Titles for an End
by Lynniethe7th
Summary: An outcast living alone, Eva is persecuted for illegal potion making by thousands. Her friend, Jade supposedly fell from the sky with no knowledge of Minecraftia, or so she thinks. Jade discovers that in this world, evil exists in every corner and the possibilities are endless. WARNING: This story was more of an experiment than anything. Read at your own risk.
1. Chapter 1- Pilot

**For anyone wondering why this has had no update, this story has been discontinued. Why, after some 31,000 words? I never created a formal plot, and just wrote as I went. Another reason is the characters, or in this case, character. One character I made too perfect, too talented, and soon enough I found term that describe this type of character. I was just starting to write last year, and despite the reviews for this story, I knew something was wrong about it. This was my first fanfiction, practically an experiment, which was many flaws. I have found them, and I do not intend to repeat them. **

**If you still want to read this, feel free to, but you have been warned.**

Eva wondered through the grassy vast plains towards her home. She now lived in the dense oak and white birch forests, for she was kicked out of her former village. She was a testificate, and she was experimenting with magic on her fellow villagers by creating potions for her people. Sharing the potions, people appreciated what Eva did, which Eva loved to do. One day she gave her friend's young son a new potion that Eva had just made. The people trusted it, of course, since all of Eva's potions were intended for good. The potion had catastrophic effects for the young human. She managed to turn the child into a creeper by having him drink that potion. The people instantly rejected her presence after that incident. She had two choices after the incident; leave the village and never return, or be slaughtered by the village's iron golem. If she would ever return to the village and go within its limits, the villagers and golem would attack her on sight.

Eva was dubbed a witch. She didn't really want to turn the child into a creeper; she thought the potion she made was one of strength. She tried to remember the ingredients for the potion time and time again. Eva was never able to obtain the potion of shape shifting. The young villager eventually may have turned back into a human if he didn't blow himself up. She wasn't sure in the potion had been permanent.

Eva sprinted back to her cobblestone house at that point. Night was approaching rapidly. All the terrifying creatures were due to appear. Finally reaching the thick forest, Eva raced past several oak and birch trees. Slashing through the tangled grass and brush with her iron sword, she finally arrived her cobblestone abode in front of her. Eva had a habit of placing a rose and a dandelion by the front door. Infrequently one or both flowers would disappear after sunset and move somewhere nearby when Eva awoke the next morning. Eva, who was twenty-seven years of age and an avid miner and potion maker, knew Endermen did that. She avoided those creatures at all costs- they terrified her more than zombies and creepers. Ever since she saw what happened to her father, Eva would never approve of Endermen again.

Eva pushed the wooden button to the right of the doorway, opening the heavy iron door. She proceeded inside, now protected from the night. Eva had three zombies break through the wooden door that was previously in its place. She threw splash potions of healing at the undead creatures until their deaths. After her encounter, she scrambled to construct an iron door to replace the ruined wooden one.

Eva's house was rectangular with a pitched roof. The house's walls were all made of cobblestone. The roof was made of common oak wood. The floor was a long sheet of reddish jungle wood, which Eva had to travel quite a distance to obtain. Windows cut through the cobblestone walls on all sides of the house. Torches were placed every three meters inside. Eva's bed was two meters from the left wall. Numerous chests, furnaces, cauldrons, and one crafting table were put adjacent to the outer walls.

Eva had returned from mining coal and iron. She killed a few zombies, skeletons, spiders, and a creeper in the cavern she was in. Eva always had a sense of adventure- exploring new caverns was a thrill for her. Just to fool around, she sometimes drank an invisibility potion before exploring a cavern. Eva tried not to laugh as the zombies, skeletons, spiders and creepers could sense her, wondering all over the cavern, but failed to find Eva.

Although diamond was the most valuable find of all, Eva was fond of emeralds and lapis lazuli. Inside Eva's house, blocks of the two substances were placed around the chests and furnaces.

Eva was the prime minister when it came to organization. She put away the mined iron in a chest reserved for unrefined ores. The coal was placed in the refined ores box. The drops from the creatures she killed were all placed in a chest right next to the ore chest, ranking from zombie flesh as the least valuable, to the gunpowder, the most second valuable. The Ender pearls reigned above all, since Eva had much difficulty killing Endermen with only water. Eva collected only four Ender pearls- and she had resided in her current home for three years. One of the pearls was given to Eva by a passerby that desperately required supplies. Eva happily took his gift.

The sun just set, but Eva didn't want to sleep. She turned and walked towards the right side of her house. There she had a ladder that led down to her lair where she made potions. Eva climbed down to the area. The stony grey basement matched the rectangular structure of her house on the side she climbed down to. This side had a nether wart farm, a brewing station, and a few chests and was totally lit. The other side was an identical rectangle, separated by a glass wall. Beyond the wall, it was pitch black. The typical zombies, skeletons, spiders, and creepers along with a bat or two were there. The spiders and zombies crept up towards the wall, noticing Eva's presence. The spiders' fangs gleamed with a nasty liquid, wanting to bite into Eva. The zombies moaned annoyingly, staring at Eva with the hunger for her flesh.

In her basement, Eva kept the ceiling low, only two meters. She dreaded the thought of the Endermen once again, on the other side, making their weird sounds and Eva seeing their bright glowing magenta eyes. Just the thought sent a chill up her spine. The mere memories of her murdered father flooded back, and Eva did anything to forget that. She didn't fight them or experiment potions on Endermen from of her extreme fright. It was far too risky. Literally, once wrong glance and she could be dead.

The purpose of the dark area was to experiment on overworldly mobs. Each new potion Eva made was tested on each creature. Eva, being a lonely witch and regularly alone, wanted to try and transform a hostile creature into a human or testificate, the opposite of what she did three years ago. She used wild combinations in her potions: diamonds, obsidian, lava, ghast tears, food, dirt, and everything in-between to possibly find the transformation potion. Eva concluded the potion must be different from the one to transform a human to a creeper. Eva didn't have a testificate other than herself to experiment on, and she wasn't about to risk screwing up and transforming into a creeper herself.

Eva had once gone to Nether to get potion-making supplies. She found out that going to the dangerous, lava filled hell world could be avoided all together. After Eva's portal spawned right next to a blaze spawner, she saw that sometimes the fiery beings came through the portal after Eva left the Nether. Eva decided to build an iron golem in the room with the Nether portal to fight the blazes that passed through. It worked rather well. Sometimes magma cubes and zombie pigmen come through. Once a ghast did, and Eva had no clue how it had fit through the portal. Anyway, she collected a considerable amount of supplies from her iron golem.

Eva's Nether portal room as on the opposite side of the room, far from the brewing area. It was the only non-rectangular room, the portal room was square. An iron door separated the portal room from the brewing area. Eva stepped over to the door, looking through the openings in it. She didn't see anything lying around, and went to the brewing station.

Bored, Eva decided to make something. She looked in a chest near the brewing station and pulled out three pork chops, a blue diamond, a piece of purple obsidian, redstone, blaze powder, gunpowder, and some wool. She wrote down the ingredients in case the concoction and an effect, but she doubted it. Lava will be used as the liquid for the potion. She put all the materials except for the lava on the station. Eva did her magic, using a spell on the materials so they would mix with the lava and not burn to nothing. This was going to be a splash potion, since the potion wasn't intended for consumption by Eva.

Eva added the lava, hoping her spell worked. Thankfully, it did. Everything blended smoothly. Now Eva cast another spell to cool the piping hot liquid so she could handle the new potion without scalds on her hands.

The resulting potion was a glowing orange. "It's not dull, so it must have an effect." Eva thought to herself. Eva was excited for this potion to do its important work. Eva's hands shook from her anticipation.

Holding the potion in her left hand, Eva found an iron ingot from the nearby chest. She took the cold metal bar out so she could smash the glass and throw the potion at the hostiles on the other side.

Armed with the potion and iron ingot, Eva moved over to the glass wall, where a zombie stood, its arms out, moaning at her. He would be the first victim. Shielding her face, Eva forcefully hit the glass with the iron bar. The shattered glass hit the zombie, hurting it somewhat. Eva backed away, throwing the glowing potion at the zombie. Eva retreated back further and waited for an effect.

The zombie began to glow a brilliant white upon contact with the splash. The transformation! Its clothes were changing, repairing the many slashes in the fabric, and its skin started to heal.

Eva was astounded. She decided to make a few more potions to try them on the other creatures inside. Eva hustled to make three extra potions. Eva ran back over to the hole in the glass wall, throwing another potion in. She successfully hit a skeleton, creeper, and a spider with a single potion. Right now, luck was on her side. She waited, expecting the transformations to take a few minutes.

Not much happened as Eva waited patiently for a positive result. After ten minutes, any sign of a fully transformed creature left Eva's mind. The effected creatures looked ridiculous; the four affected hostiles had clothes on. Eva had to laugh at them; the skeleton's grey pants were at its feet. The creeper's shirt fell down to its feet also, its shirt matching its green skin. The spider didn't even fit into its clothing, and Eva couldn't distinguish the spider's shirt from its pants. The zombie had a green baseball hat on for an unintelligible reason.

Despite their silly looks, Eva felt foolish. She created another failed potion. She wasted four diamonds, four blocks of obsidian, four blaze powder and all her pork chops on yet another failure. When will something work? Eva became discouraged and angry. Why does she continue to do this work which yields nothing in return? "Three years, and still, everything is all unsuccessful!" Eva yelled at the clothed mobs past the transparent wall. "Damn you, all you despicable things! I'm done doing this!"

She went back up the ladder. Her clock's time stated that it was about eleven already. Two bottles of potion remained. Eva was disgusted with the countless potions that all failed miserably. She stepped over to her door. Upon placing her feet on the wooden pressure plate, the iron door swung open. She launched the vials of orange liquid furiously towards an unsuspecting creeper. She missed, but it didn't matter. Eva decided to quit this transformation potion business. Nothing she did worked. Eva moved off the pressure plate, which closed the iron door. Eva walked over to her bed and climbed in under the blue, patterned covers. There she slept off her sad disappointments, mounted up from those three years of miserable failures.


	2. Chapter 2- A Fortunate Newcomer

Eva was sitting at her dining table, starting to dose off. She was reading a book, deciding to explore a different hobby other than potion making, which she had abandoned for about three weeks now. The orange potion had absorbed into the ground, finally forgotten. She gave up on transformations. All it did was stress and anger her anymore. It seemed no longer worth gathering the materials, learning the spells, etc., just for something that only worked once-and that was an unintended complication.

_Knock. Knock. _Eva heard a rapid banging on the iron door. She instantly looked up from the volume she had been reading.

"Hello? Excuse me? Someone here? Open the door! Let me in before dark!" A young female's voice was audible, and it was most likely a human. Her voice sounded somewhat desperate.

"An adventurer?" Eva thought. She barely got any in this deep forested area. Eva put her leather bound book face-down on the table, walking briskly to the door, the banging continuing.

Eva stepped on the pressure plate, and the heavy metal door swung open, exposing an older teenage girl. In the fading light, Eva could make out her clothes, a violet tee shirt, blue jeans, and low black shoes.

The teenager was gracefully tall and curvy, with wavy dark brown hair. Eva believed she had to be around eighteen, maybe a bit younger or older. Her beautifully flawless tanned face looked relieved upon Eva allowing her inside.

"You may enter." Eva said as the girl shuffled in. "I certainly wouldn't let any young or desperate people out there."

"Thanks ma'am. My name is Jade. I was getting scared out there." Jade now was inside the shelter, breathing a sigh of relief. Jade shook the testificate's hand in payment.

"I'm Eva." Eva felt the firm grip of Jade's hand. Certainly that seemed like enough to trust Jade. A dead fish would have been questionable.

"Thanks for allowing me in. I was worried, with the night coming. But I found a shelter so I had to go to it. Sorry I'm here. I believe you like your privacy." Jade said the sentence in a jumble of words and was out of breath.

"It's fine. I understand that feeling. I don't like being out at this time either."

Jade noted the testificate here looked like a librarian of some sort. In front of the Eva's green eyes was a simple pair of glasses, made from iron to hold the frames. She had a sea-blue robe on, probably dyed from the blocks of lapis lazuli that hugged the outer walls of the rectangular house. Eva didn't tuck her arms in the robe; they were at her sides. "You built and gathered all these things yourself?" Jade questioned, observing the area.

Eva nodded. "Yes, everything here I either had to mine, gather, fight for, and some things I bought." Eva gestured Jade over to the oak table. "I noticed you have manners. Do what anything to eat or drink?" Eva stood by her food chest.

Jade calmed herself down at the table as she spoke to Eva. "Yes, I've been out all day, trying to find someone, so I didn't eat or drink all day."

Eva opened the food chest up, looking for a reasonable meal. Eva had more than enough carrots, potatoes, meat, watermelons, and apples. "What would you like?"

Jade observed Eva's food chest as Eva turned it towards Jade's direction. "The fruits and some water, please. I'm parched."

Eva took two slices of watermelon and two apples out along with some water Eva poured into a glass which she received in an adjacent chest. "Coming right up." Eva returned to the table as Jade eyed the fruits.

"Thanks for that." Jade carefully took and inspected the fruits. She hurried the food down, obvious that she was hungry. Jade sipped the water a bit while she was eating, then when Jade finished the food; she drank each drop in the large glass.

Eva watched the forest outside as Jade ate quickly. Eva watched a creeper as it was stuck on the top of a tree, not knowing what to do. Turning back to Jade, Eva questioned her coming here. "So… how did you get here?" Eva suspected Jade was a runaway of some sort, or was on her own now. No one came to this forest in about a month, and the last guy here was much older, completely capable of being on his own.

Jade sat at the other side of the table, glancing at the outside scene occasionally. "I woke up outside today in the plains past here. All I know is some basic stuff, like my name, identifying things, but that's mostly it. Like I said, I spent the whole day trying to find a village, city, or house before nightfall." Jade viewed the book on the table, then back to Eva, whose eyebrow raised.

Eva had one thought jump out at her. "Like the legend of Steve… "Eva's voice wavered a bit. Eva never thought a person like that would happen to spawn in her area. Above all things, she wanted a human friend, or any friendly acquaintance for years. After the considerable amount of time Eva spent creating potions for transformations, it seemed that Notch gifted Eva Jade as a present. Eva actually began to go to a village north in the mountains recently to seek new relationships and trade with its residents. Jade here was parentless and had nowhere to live, or even how to do so without a swift death. Most likely, Jade will stay with Eva for a while. The whole thing appeared to be premeditated.

Jade put on a puzzled look. "What's that tale about?"

Eva started. "Steve is the minecrafia man everyone knows. He woke up in the very early days of this world with no memory. He can die, but you can say that he is immortal. He wakes up again after a death, staring the process over, losing all his stuff- except what he learned. People have reported sightings of him." Eva turned her head to the window. "Jade, look outside."

Jade had noticed there were monsters outside now, hiding in the trees. "Zombies, a skeleton…" Jade was cut off by Eva.

"There is a rather widely accepted rumor that those zombies are dead Steves. I've seen many zombies in my twenty some years and, god, to think that Steve possibly died all those times. My own people, some of them are turned into zombies. But there is far more of the 'Steve zombies' than the 'testificate zombies'." Eva continued to stare blankly out the window.

"And you have no choice but to kill them?"

Eva sighed. "I do get that thought that they once looked like me, and behaved like me. During a village siege, the 'Steve' zombies go around, spreading the infection to us upon death. I lived in a village and lost some of my unfortunate friends to that. That's why I have an iron door here. Nothing's getting past that."

"Oh, I'm sorry that I've mentioned that. But they'd get you if you did nothing." Jade shifted at the table a little. The wood wasn't that comfortable to sit on.

"It's all right. I'm the kind of person that simply says the past is the past, and I can't change it."

"Well, I've know you for like ten minutes, and I already got into a personal conversion, so I feel a little guilty." Jade peered at the multiple blocks and chests in Eva's house. "Nice emeralds. I see you like lapis a lot. What's in the chests on this side by the ladder?"

Eva quickly stated, "Supplies for survival, ores, mob drops, and much more." Eva felt like showing off her collection.

Eva knew Jade was brand new to the world. She only knew the simple stuff, such as identification of materials. Jade wouldn't consider stealing, lying, or any crime yet. Jade had to visually see the act or be instructed how to do so. Jade's survival instincts did tell her to avoid monsters and seek shelter before the night. That's exactly what she did, and part of the reason why Eva knew she wasn't lying about magically appearing outside. Plus, Eva had an ability to separate the honest from the liars. Most often, she could tell by body language, facial expressions, and the tone of voice.

"Here, I'll show the mob drop chest. I believe it's the most interesting. Since you're new here, I should give you a bit of a run down on the mobs." Eva slid down and out of the bench- like seats. Jade followed in pursuit. Eva walked near the ladder leading downstairs, then two chests to the right was the mob drop chest, next to the ore chest. She released the iron latch keeping it shut, and opened the chest containing the assortment of mob drops.

Jade saw a small array of resources, for most she couldn't see due to wooden dividers separating the materials. Then she smelt a rather sickly stench from the box. Looking in the bottom right-hand corner of the chest was a stack of rotting flesh. "Ugh! Why is that in here?" Jade turned away, covering her face with her shirt.

"Wait, I'll get rid of it." Eva really had no use for the flesh anyway. She planned on selling the stack to the people in the village up north for their dogs, but Jade was disgusted. Plus, Eva was used to that smell from exploring, so she never thought twice of how it would affect Jade. Eva took the stack, moved over to the pressure plate, and threw it out the door. "There. It's gone now." Eva walked by Jade, her hands held out, grimy with decomposing slime. "Sorry about that. I should put it somewhere else." Eva went near the dining table to another chest containing her remaining cleansing potions for everything from cleaning to healing wounds. She opened it up to splash one of the potions on her hands.

"Thanks. I thought I was going to throw up."

"Well, everything left in there is the interesting merchandise." Eva rubbed her hands together, removing any remaining grime.

"You sell monster drops?" Jade tried to inch closer to the box to see what was left inside.

"I only started recently. I didn't have much use for some stuff, like that-"Eva returned to the chest, motioning to the fresh rotting flesh stain that leaked onto the wooden bottom of the chest. "Or I had an overabundance. I once had a stack of bones in there, blaze rods, and a bunch of other materials from mobs you wouldn't recognize that I sold to a village. In return I get more emeralds for tools like diamond pickaxes, and other nice stuff." Eva smiled at Jade. "People actually use zombie flesh to feed their dogs, if you didn't know."

Jade imagined the poor dog disliked that. "I bet the dog gets sick."

Eva shook her head. "Actually no. We can get poisoned if we do, but the dogs can't. Plus, zombies are everywhere, compared to cows, pigs- those animals you have to raise and feed."

Jade acknowledged the statement. "So what's in that?" Jade pointed to a brown stuffed bag in the upper compartment of the box. She still kept a distance from the chest and its pungent smell of a dead corpse.

"Gunpowder for TNT. It's from the creepers- they're green, with no arms, and they blow you up, making a hissing sound, most often from _right behind you_ while you're digging"- Eva clenched her fists and closed her eyes, recalling an incident where a creeper walked up behind her, only its footsteps audible. "_**I hate that so much**_." Eva said the sentence with clear disdain. "Hence the name, the creeper."

Jade's face twisted a little. "Sounds like such a friendly thing." Jade smiled at her statement.

Eva nodded, her eyes wide opened then. "Yeah, let me tell you, they're wonderful, glorious creatures. "

Jade laughed. "So what else is in here? Most of it you sold, right?"

"Yes. But I will hold onto this one." Eva had to dig in the uppermost slot in the left corner to find the last Ender pearl she had. She felt the glassy pearl's surface, slipping off her fingers as she tried to pick it up. "C'mon…Ha!" Eva finally got a grip on the object. "There you go. Here's an Ender pearl, which I obtained about two and a half years ago." Eva presented the pearl, which Jade eyed closely. Eva observed as Jade's hazel brown-green eyes watched the swirling green materials in the pearl move around slowly. "This was a tough thing to get. The sucker died a painful death." Eva looked at the pearl as well, remembering the tedious task of finding the same Enderman and pouring water on him- probably that was the worst death an Enderman could ask for.

Jade was perplexed. "That's from a mob?" She touched its smooth surface. It felt like some energy was still inside it. "It looks like something man made. Like a snow globe, sort of. Or something like that."

Eva nodded. "But it isn't. It comes from a creature that's rather…eerie, disgusting, and evil, filled with pure evil…." Eva wasn't going to tell about teleporting Endermen on her first night. She will need to eventually, however.

Jade narrowed her eyes a bit, concluding something about the mysterious pearl. Jade looked outside for some reason, glancing at each mob. "Whatever it's from, it's not from any of those things outside."

Eva put the pearl back in the box. She was going to show more but Jade stopped Eva's show and tell secession. How did she know that the pearl didn't belong here?

"Eva, I'm going to need to know how to fight." Jade gazed at a creeper, then to a nearby spider. "Everything is hostile out there. They're not going to be friendly anytime soon."

The spider sensed Jade, standing there inside the house. It crawled over the grass, going to the cobblestone exterior. It moved up the wall, getting stuck in the glass plane windows. The spider froze there and hissed as its glowing red eyes focused on Jade. "Eva?"

"I know the spiders do that. Then they try to follow you. I have trouble sleeping so I have to move my bed." Eva snapped her chest shut. She turned, seeing Jade was focusing on the spider as much as it was doing the same to her.

Jade spoke out loud. "I meant I wanted to ask you a question. About the mobs."

Eva returned to the table in the corner. "What?"

"You're older than me, and I just wanted to know how you feel about the mobs. You see them every day like this. Do you think there is an explanation to how they got that way?" Turning away from the spider to Eva, Jade walked over to the table to sit down across from Eva.

Eva had to actually think about that question. She never gave much thought into it, but Eva gave her opinion. "First, I don't like any of the mobs that attack me, especially the ones that drop those pearls. That's easily a given. But, I've been around them for twenty-seven years; I'm used to most of them. Most still frighten me if I'm caught off guard. Like those creepers, zombies, everything to be honest. The reason why they attack us upon sight- I don't know."

"I should build a time travel machine. I'm just so curious, I feel like I need to find out. I probably never will." Jade rubbed her chin in thought.

Eva responded with a chuckle. "Heh, I bet some people have thought of that already. Good luck trying."

"Well, at least we'll know what happened. Who knows what caused the endless war of the civilized people and the mobs." Jade shrugged, moving her hands up from the table with a dazed expression. "I mean, take a look at them,"-Jade signaled her hand towards the window- " there are walking green carcasses, the skeletons can manage to move and use a bow without muscles or a brain for that matter. You got armless green exploding things, and huge spiders. Like, how do you have animated dead and creepers? How does that happen? " Jade shook her head. "And that pearl? I can't begin to imagine what drops that."

"Trust me. You don't even want to _see_ what does. And you have more than those mobs here. You're going to see the diversity of them all." Eva blinked, concluding the creatures and their true origins were unknown, since very few in Minecraftia gave much thought about it. There were a few theories, but Notch only knows what one is true.

Eva nodded. "I should teach you combat skills. I've lived alone so long, gathering my own resources. As long as you're human, the mobs will despise you for that unknown reason. It's necessary for survival on this world, for everyone."

"Tomorrow?" Jade tuned in to Eva, eager for a positive response.

"Of course. You're lucky you have a trainer with a plethora of supplies. When Steve did this his first time, he had absolutely nothing but his bare hands."


	3. Chapter 3- Nightmares and Training

"Themselves."

Jade was falling in a world of pure darkness. This was the infinite void, an endless, lifeless realm which occurred underneath every world. She plummeted further and further down, her speed increasing. She only heard that one word. Themselves. A masculine voice boomed in her mind, becoming deafening.

Jade couldn't tolerate this voice or drop much longer; the voice's spine-tingling chill was unbearable. She started to scream, terror washing all over Jade. The voice attended to her screeches.

The voice ceased, and then it apologized for an unknown reason.

"I'm sorry. I should have known that this would scare you. You forgot everything." The voice let out either a laugh, a cry, or a roar. Jade was unable to accurately distinguish the voice's tone during her frigid fall in the void, however.

The journey ended when the void around Jade turned a gleaming white.

Jade's dream ended there. She woke up with a jolt, and Jade turned to the right to see that it was early morning outside. Jade placed her bed near the ladder, which led to the basement. Jade climbed out of her bed, tripping over her black shoes placed by the bed. She tumbled to the reddish- brown wood floor, frightening a half-asleep Eva in her bed.

Eva angled herself in Jade's direction. Jade had sighed, and then got herself up to sit on her bed. Eva dragged herself out of her bed, looking out the window just like Jade had done before. Eva found her glasses on a nearby emerald block and she slipped them on groggily.

Eva walked over to Jade, who was focusing on the wooden floor. "Don't fall! Did you sleep well?" Eva opened her mouth wide with a yawn.

"No. I heard all the things outside, then I had this nightmare." Jade forced herself up to make her bed. She still couldn't comprehend the dream she just had. No part of the hellish nightmare made an ounce of sense, considering that she woke up yesterday.

"Well, that happens to me sometimes. That's the way of the overworld." Eva went over to the chests on the other side of the house. Jade walked over to the nearby dining table, knowing that today she would receive her first lesson in combat training. She would rather hack and slash the evil creatures than try to fathom the nightmare she had.

Eva returned to the dining table, her entire backpack and arms full. "We start bright and early." Eva handed Jade multiple foodstuffs, but she wasn't hungry yet. Jade kept shaking her head no at the offer. Eva rolled her eyes. "This stuff is all for later. For when we go to the cavern. Take everything I'm giving you."

Eva positioned food and a water bucket it front of Jade. Eva rummaged through her pack and gave Jade a full set of iron armor. Jade eyed the set of armor approvingly. Eva was indeed going to give Jade a thorough lesson.

Eva then displayed an iron sword or a bow and a quiver full of bows in front of Jade. "Here, you get to pick."

Jade studied both weapons, debating their pros and cons. Swords are easy to use but have short range. That meant Jade had to be up close and personal to mobs like creepers or nasty zombies. The bow and arrow could go much further and pick off mobs from a distance, but she needed accurate aim for it to be effective. Jade decided to pick what seemed to be a harder weapon to use, the bow and arrow. Eva was around her, so Jade grasped the idea that Eva would defend her if needed.

Eva smiled at Jade's choice. "Hmm, you're lucky you picked that. This cold iron blade has always been my favorite weapon. I should construct a diamond one." Eva inspected the sword, noting tiny cracks beginning to form in it. She'll need to replace the weapon soon, or she and Jade may experience an unintended moment in a cavern someday. "I'm telling you, I'm not the best when it comes to using a bow, but I can use one. Get your armor on, you'll need it."

Jade clad herself in the heavy iron armor for her own protection. Eva did the same, but Eva took less time than Jade. Jade slung the quiver onto her back, her arms bearing the weight of it. She held the bow her dominant hand. Jade equipped a leather belt around her waist with the food and bucket of water for easy access. To Jade's surprise, the additional weight didn't feel like a burden, despite her being out of shape. Perhaps that is how people in Minecraftia wear this stuff all day long.

With the two women ready, Eva signaled Jade out the door. "Just follow me." Eva and Jade were then on their way.

Eva led Jade to the cavern they planned to investigate. Little conversion was started between the two, but Eva brought up Jade's nightmare while they wondered towards a desert of all places.

"Was that dream that bad? You looked very blank this morning." Eva talked out loud, not looking back to Jade.

Jade simply didn't want to mention it. "Yes, it was little too creepy. Don't mention it again." Jade conveyed a bit of acidity in her voice to prevent Eva from starting anything else.

"Fine. We got this desert before we get to the mountains."

Jade sighed as she strode into a hot, sweltering desert.

After an hour of walking from Eva's house, the two reached their destination. These were the high mountains where Eva obtained her supply of emeralds. The cavern the two were going to enter was only partially explored by Eva. At the mouth of the cavern which was cut into the cliff's side, Eva had to explain some more mob details that Eva should have informed Jade of the night before.

Eva began her warning. "Now Jade, I didn't tell you about some mobs last night. These may or may not be in the cavern. Inside, I'm sure there are zombies, skeletons, spiders and creepers further on in. But I need to tell you about three others: Endermen, Cave Spiders, and Slimes."

Jade nodded, her heart starting to pound from the threat of even more danger. "I'm listening."

"All right. An Enderman drops that Ender pearl I showed you last night. Now, whatever you do, don't look at them."Eva said the sentence slowly to emphasize the point. "They are very tall and black, producing a purple particle effect. Just keep your head down if you see the slightest trace of that. Cave Spiders are smaller and faster than the regular spiders and infect you with poison. They are a bluish color, but that's only if we find a mineshaft." Eva revealed a bucket of milk in front of Jade. "If we do happen to get poisoned, we'll drink this. Lastly, Slimes are jumping green cubes that are rare underground. The bigger ones can hurt you. Understand all of that?"

Jade began to tremble from her sudden fear, and she grasped her bow tightly, her knuckles turning white. "Every single damn thing is dangerous! Why can't everything be nice? Just once?" Jade began to regret her decision of exploring a cave so quickly. The reality was sinking in, and Eva wasn't about to turn back.

Eva grabbed Jade, and Eva saw the sight of panic on Jade's face. Eva made sure Jade was focused on her. "Relax, Jade. I know how the first time exploring a cave was for me. You got to listen to everything and keep focused. All mobs make certain sounds, but the creeper, you only can listen to the footsteps before they hiss to get you. I'll let you lead. I've got your back just in case."

Jade breathed in the crisp mountain air, and then she nodded quickly. "Okay, I can manage this." Jade attempted to calm her uneasy nerves, and after a moment she proceeded into the lit section of the cave.

Jade led Eva into the lit cavern, and for safe measure, Jade held her bow and one arrow in case something was wondering around in the lit area. Ahead, there was a sharp turn to the left. So far, Jade didn't hear anything, but she rounded the corner with caution, readying her bow before the corner, then she turned quickly, and fortunately no creeper was there. Eva spoke on Jade's strategy.

"It's good to do that, but when you round a corner, don't be right next to it. Move over a little then round it, so if something is there, you can retreat back and then kill it."

Jade turned to Eva. "Okay, I'll remember that next time."

"Carry on. So far so good." Eva motioned with her hands telling Jade to get a move on.

Jade kept going, the cavern going straight, then it branched in two directions, left and right. Jade and Eva stopped, listening for footsteps. There was absolutely no sound of movement.

Jade was still cautious, and the two rounded the corners carefully to see nothing there. Jade's side lead back outside, while Eva's when further in. Past Eva, there were about five more torches that Jade could see before the cavern slopped downward. Jade and Eva strode through the area. Right after Jade reached the incline down, an audible low moan met Jade's ears.

"There is a zombie down there somewhere." Jade whispered the statement to Eva.

"Now we must go down and defeat him." Eva and Jade began to descend into the mountain, careful not to slip and plunge into the unknown area ahead. Once the two got down to the bottom, the zombie was further ahead, and it didn't detect Eva or Jade yet. The undead corpse stood in Jade's direction, with its arms out, just standing there, its empty eyes inattentive. Jade became nauseated at its filthy cyan shirt which was tattered, slashed, and soaked with dried blood and pus. The zombie certainly wasn't going to put its rotting hands on Jade. Whatever human it once was must have been bitten or clawed to death.

Eva began her instructions. "Jade, take your arrow then-"

Jade ignored whatever Eva was telling her. Jade moved her bow and arrow up near her eye level. Jade was going to get her perfect shot.

The zombie moved a few paces forward. Groaning and making unpleasant sounds, it began its chase after Jade as fast as the undead thing could walk. To further the gruesome appearance of the zombie, a line of drool began to drip out of its mouth as it craved healthy flesh.

Jade was at point blank range, and there wasn't much room in the tight area that she could miss. Jade aimed at the zombie's head and fired at the approaching "Steve" zombie ten blocks in front of her. The arrow whizzed through the air, hitting the zombie in the prime spot- between the eyes. After making a sound signaling it was hurt, the animated corpse fell over. The zombie began to dissipate into a cloud of smoke. The zombie's leftover flesh lay on the floor, and Jade wasn't interested in taking it.

Jade made her first kill with expert precision- and she had no clue how she was so accurate on her first try. It must have been luck.

"Impressive stunt for a beginner." Eva clapped her hands with approval. "Now we got to be more alert. Cavern's even darker ahead."

The two continued on the gentle descent, and Jade or Eva didn't attempt to take the putrid flesh on the floor. Jade noticed that Eva was placing torches every few blocks or so to light up the area. Jade observed an assortment of black dots in the stone above her. "Eva, is that coal on the ceiling?" Jade didn't feel any discomfort in the area, and all Jade could see in this area was an expansive coal deposit on the cavern's ceiling.

Eva looked up. "Yep, that's coal; I have enough, so I'll leave it up there. Let's go down a bit more. I explored this area, but I had no torches. Up ahead is something really neat."

"Like what?" Jade couldn't picture anything beneficial in a cavern other than diamond ore.

"You'll see. It's an excellent sniping point." Eva took charge and lead the way, as she wanted to show Jade the ravine ahead.

Jade followed Eva, the cavern's descent evening out to become a level surface. In the distance ahead, Jade saw no monsters, but there the cavern appeared to contain a point where it dropped off. Eva littered torches on the wall generously, and the two kept moving towards what Jade thought was a gaping pit in the ground.

Nearing the edge, Jade heard a few chirps and the rattling of bones. Bats and skeletons, what else could be in the pit? When Jade hugged the edge, what she saw this wasn't a pit. It was a massive area, containing stone and ores on the walls and on the bottom. In some areas, Jade noticed water and lava fall from various attitudes falling to the floor of the cavern. On the narrow ledge, Jade saw mobs wondering about on other ledges and on the floor of the cavern when she glanced to the left and right. Thankfully, none sensed Eva or Jade yet.

"Beautiful ravine, isn't it?" Eva smiled and turned to Jade.

"Maybe. But there are mobs everywhere, and if I fall off this teeny ridge, I'm done for." Jade's mind went wild as threats circled all around her.

Studying the ledge on the opposite side, Jade saw a creeper, stuck in a single minuscule spot, looking directly at her. Its gaze bothered her, and its ugly frown was more irritating. Jade decided to get rid of the armless green thing. She pulled an arrow out of the quiver, aimed a bit above the creeper due to gravity, and she fired. Once again, the shot was a direct hit in the head. The creeper fell of its ledge and died in midair, transforming into a puff of smoke.

Eva didn't understand how Jade had such precise aim. She must learn easily or have a natural talent. Eva wasn't even that excellent with a bow like Jade. "You're doing better than I've expected."

Jade began, "I know, I'm-"Jade stopped as she heard the rattling of bones and the hiss of a spider directly above her, on the ridge five blocks above her head. "I'm going to hate every single moving thing in this damned world." Jade tried to move other and look at the entities on the upper ledge.

Eva seized Jade and hauled her back to Jade's previous position. "Jade, don't get to confident. You don't know if a spider jockey's up there." As soon as Eva finished the sentence, the spider fell of its ledge to land on the bottom. The creature hissed a reply of pain upon hitting the ravine's floor.

"Fall back a bit, I bet the spider's going to climb up the wall. I'll handle him." Eva stood near the ridge's edge, and Jade watched from about seven blocks behind.

As Eva dealt with the furry eight legged arachnid, Jade's thoughts plagued her mind again. Thinking about it, the voice she heard during her dream sounded very familiar. Jade swore she heard that voice many times, but whose was it? Also, Jade was exceptional with the bow and arrow, and that too- was abnormal for being a day old.

"Themselves." Jade mouthed the words. What significance did that word have towards her?

"You forgot everything." Jade was hit by those words the hardest. Maybe she wasn't a human born yesterday morning…

I splash of spider guts to the face interrupted Jade from her thoughts. "That's… lovely." Jade muttered the words with disapproval.

Eva stood in front of the spider, removing her iron sword from the spider's head. Eva turned to an agitated Jade. "Sorry about that. But it's going to happen often in close combat." Eva tried not to laugh at Jade's sour face as Eva passed a clean rag to Jade.


	4. Chapter 4-What the hell happened?

From Jade's lack of attention to her situation, Eva knew something was up with her. Dozing off in a cavern was never a smart idea, especially for a newbie. While Eva was fighting the spider, Jade stood in one spot, not even moving back to allow Eva room to fight.

"Jade," Eva began, "What's wrong? I can see something's causing you trouble. I bet ten diamonds that it's that dream. Right?"

Jade tossed the grey rag for cleaning her face back to Eva. Eva caught it successfully in her left hand, and then put it in one of the slots on her belt. "Eva, I'm just having suspicions that... I…" Jade realized she was too far into the sentence, and Eva was listening carefully. Jade knew that another predicament like this would come again. Jade_ felt_ that another dream like the one the previous night would repeat in some manner. At first, Jade thought the nightmare was all bull. After Jade used the bow and went into the cavern however, there was a distant memory in her mind that wanted to be released. Jade had done this before… but she couldn't determine where or when. Jade decided there was no sense in hiding it. "The hell with it. Eva, I think I'm not new here. Not at all." Jade looked past Eva to view if any mobs were getting in range on the ravine's ledges.

Eva cocked her head. "Why?"

Jade thought of pouring out her long story, but a cavern was no place to have a chat. "I'll tell you, but this isn't the place for it."

Eva nodded. The two made their way back outside, leaving the ravine behind them. When they arrived outside, it was either late morning or about noon. They both took the hour long hike back to Eva's home.

Once the two removed their armor and heavy gear, Eva and Jade settled down at Eva's wooden table. Jade explained all the details of the dream.

"All right," Jade began, getting Eva's full attention, "I'm certain that I have been on this world before. I woke up yesterday- but I think that wasn't my first time."

Eva stared past Jade, contemplating how that was possible. She thought the memories carried over when one died. That's what happened with Steve and a few other humans. Eva glanced up to Jade. "How can you be sure?"

"Well, that nightmare last night was intense. There was this male voice talking to me. He kept repeating one word: 'themselves'. I remember falling down deep into the void…"

Before Jade could mention more, Eva raised a hand to cut her off. "Did you see his face?"

"No. Only a voice that was just loud, chilling and creepy. But he seemed to soften up, however. He apologized to me."

Jade watched as Eva's face changed from fearful to utter confusion. "He- _**apologized**_**?" **Eva spoke as is she couldn't believe it.

"Eva, why are you acting like that? Do you know who this is?" Jade had no idea who spoke to her. Eva seemed like she had met the guy before.

"You're _cursed_." Eva formed a defiant scowl on her face. Jade felt as if Eva slapped Jade in the face. Eva- she looked angry and hostile. Eva stood up from her seat, attending to every one of Jade's movements.

Eva spoke to herself, backing away from Jade, going near her defense chest by her food chest. "I let this impure soul into my home?" Eva spat the words in disgust.

Jade's heart pounded more than ever. "Eva," Jade began shakily, "Wh-what's the meaning of this?" Eva's mood five minutes ago was reasonable. Then, Eva was gripping an iron sword from her defense chest. Her attitude changed in the flip of a switch. Jade got up, thinking if she should reason with Eva or if Jade should make a break out the door.

"I only help those who promise to aid Notch. Not servants to further the evils of his horrible brother." Eva grasped her sword firmly. This beautiful young lady in front Eva was going to die. Eva hardly knew her, and if she would have known what Jade was, Eva would have left her outside to rot last night.

Eva swung her sword at Jade, hitting her arm. Jade screamed out from the pain. It was a deep cut, and a considerable amount of scarlet- black blood bled from Jade's arm.

"Red blood turning black," Eva thought, "A sign of absolute evil."

Jade punched Eva's face with her unwounded left arm. Eva fell back near the ladder to the basement. Eva desperately tried to get up, but Jade was already out the door, running away.

"Have fun residing in the Nether." Eva eyed the blood on the floor, and then looked at Jade's bed. Jade wouldn't need that anymore.

Jade bolted through the forest as fast as she could, dodging trees and holding her injured arm. Jade had nothing but the clothes on her back to rap the wound up with. Then Jade realized that she had absolutely nothing. No supplies, anything. It was already early afternoon, and Jade hoped she could find a friendly village sometime before nightfall.

Jade thought Eva was insane. What came over her? She went berserk. Jade's thoughts had to stop. "Eva… enough about her… I need something from my arm!" Jade decided to rip the bottom half of her shirt off, exposing her stomach. She wrapped the cloth over her injured arm as tightly as possible, hoping that would ease the bleeding. Jade viewed the area as the purple cloth began to turn a deep shade of red.

Jade' stomach growled. Now was not the time for hunger to kick in. Jade prayed that an apple was somewhere in the trees. Searching the trees she discovered two of them after about five minutes, and sat down against an oak tree. The adrenaline was wearing off, and the blood loss had made her a bit dizzy. The throbbing pain of her arm was returning again.

Eating her apples, Jade was beginning to feel revitalized. She stared off past the trees as she scarfed her food down. Too much had happened today, and more was yet to come. Jade studied the huge oak tree in front of her. It shall make a decent shelter tonight.


	5. Chapter 5-Karma Comes Around

The following day Eva awoke in the morning as normal, except for the fact that the once-harmless looking girl who supposedly was called Jade was long gone. Eva thought Jade was a servant of Herobrine- and very little evidence supported that- with an exception being Jade's dark scarlet-black blood. Jade didn't even get to finish her explanation before the librarian Testificate attacked her. All of it was simply based just on one odd dream, and Eva assumed the speaker was Herobrine. However, it could have been anyone or a merely a creation of Jade's imagination.

Rain pounded Eva's house when she woke up. It was running down the sides of the eastern windows, dripping on the cobblestone walls. Eva searched for her glasses on a nearby emerald block near the wall. While feeling around for her glasses, a chilly draft kept blowing in her direction. When she sat up and viewed the area in front of her, she became horrified that her iron door was wide open. Due to the rain, the undead were still outside wondering around randomly. She instantaneously jumped of off her bed, and through her blurry vision, the stone pressure plate clicked, shutting the door. After Eva closed the door shut, she breathed a sigh of relief and put her glasses on.

Right after Eva stepped off the pressure plate, she heard one of the most dreaded noises in Minecraftia.

"_Ssssssssttt!"_

A creeper snuck inside the house, but for some reason it mysteriously postponed its blast until Eva awoke. The sound came from behind Eva's back, and Eva let out a high-pitched yelp.

Eva screwed her eyes tightly, expecting her sudden death. The blast never came, and Eva forced herself to whirl around hurriedly. What she saw made her jaw drop to the floor in awe.

A few paces in front of Eva was the kid she transformed into a creeper. He had a crooked smile plastered on his face that stood out more than the rest of him- one side represented a human's smile, but the other was a sinister smiling creeper. The kid, who was known as Michael, was half-creeper and half-human, but the human side seemed to be returning. He was in his mid-teens now, and he certainly not friendly like back in the village. While Eva crept backwards, Michael strolled awkwardly on his three legs- one human, two of them creeper. Mike only had one arm as of now, and he wore a perforated grey shirt and ruined cargo shorts, blemished with many kinds of stains. Sandy hair covered two-thirds of Mike's head, and he only possessed one of his sky blue eyes currently, which were filled with multiple emotions. It was clear to Eva that Mike took a beating over the last three years.

Eva got over her temporary moment of extreme shock and found herself stumbling over her words. "I… thought you were dead… Mike…" Eva was almost unable to speak Mike's name. The teenager now appeared violent, angry, and hostile. Not a trace of the carefree child was left inside him now. Eva felt a pang of guilt as she knew that this was all her fault. Eva thought with bewilderment, "How did he find my house? It's very far from the old village…"

Mike began, towering above Eva. He perked up over the last three years. His introduction concluded his hate for Eva remained. "Hello, Eva. You live in a wonderful forest here. Obviously it's far from any towns monitoring potion making and witchcraft." Mike's lone human eye conveyed a sense of disgust.

Eva considered responding, but Mike continued talking. Eva kept her distance, and now she approached the dining table and the bed that once belonged to Jade. If she could get to the defense chest…

Mike pointed to himself. "You couldn't just do this to _me_? You had to infect the people of Semitra too?!" Mike's voice rose with every word he spoke, and he hissed with increasing rage.

Eva hit the back wall, and she was right by Jade's bright purple bed. The rain continued the lash at the wood and cobblestone structure. Eva trembled against the wall, her words shaky. "I did… nothing to Semitra!"

Mike rolled his human eye. The creeper eye just remained static. "Humph. Really? Listen to this_ bullshit_! Tell me then. _Why are they turning too_?" He almost grabbed Eva with his one arm, but she evaded his attempt.

Eva dodged his grab, rolling over Jade's bed. She didn't understand. Her potions didn't work! She tried countless times, and _**nothing happened**_! "That's immmpossible- they don-"

Mike shot back. "More bullshit excuses. If you don't believe me, follow the damn river and see for yourself all the pain you caused those poor innocent people!" Mike pointed ahead to the west, towards where the river was currently located.

Eva almost froze, and she couldn't speak. Her breath caught in her throat. Inside her head, the thought finally clicked. Eva got rid of all her old potions by placing them in a shallow 'safe' well in the ground expecting that the contents would lose effectiveness after being there forever. Groundwater must have seeped through the supposedly impermeable well as the water currents underground carried the potion mixture towards the river. Recently the weather had been stormy, and obviously not aiding the situation. There were about thirty or more of those potions, most of which had their vials shattered from impact on the well's bottom. The town of Semitra was the only village that Eva recalled beginning downriver. The river was positioned a short distance to the west of Eva's home. If one followed that river, he or she will end up in Semitra. Eva's didn't think that water would enter the well… and now it included terrible consequences…

As Eva walked backwards over towards her defense chest, Mike spotted the dark bloodstain that marred the jungle wood floor. "Eva. Did you have a… let's see… a bad pet?" Mike crouched by the area, observing dried blood on the floor diligently, seeming to gain information from the deep scarlet red area.

While Mike was busy gazing at the floor, Eva opened up her defense chest. She expected her weapon supply to be there- and everything was gone. The nearby chests were vacant as well. Eva noticed that the basement was filled in with hard grey stone. Mike giggled with glee, for he knew Eva would end up fruitless in trying to obtain a weapon.

Mike was very interested with the area, so Eva decided that she should attempt an escape. She raced over to the door, and the pressure plate didn't work. She stomped on it and it refused to click. The pressure plate was stuck- and that's probably why Mike left the door open. He rigged it to do this-the sneaky bastard.

Mike looked up, amused that Eva was trying desperately to open the door. He tilted his head back in a cold chuckle. "Idiot! You're not getting out of here!"

Mike stood up after thoroughly inspecting the blood for a while. He uttered his words furiously. "What mob did you convert?" Mike glared at Eva icily.

Eva heard herself repeating Mike's words. "What _**mob**_ did I convert…?" Eva was wide-eyed, her voice shrill. Jade was human!___She was__** SURE **__of it!_

"I can see by the blood that it's a mob! Its scent is different than human blood! So… which one was it Eva?" Mike neared Eva once again, who was now in a corner.

Eva reverted to her old thought from yesterday. "She's a minion of Him. She was an evil human!" Eva spoke as if that was the only answer. She crossed her arms as if to conform it. She was making herself seem as strong as possible, but on the inside, Eva's stomach churned with fear and anxiety.

Mike shook his head. "Eva, Eva, Eva. When will you ever learn that those old ideas are complete garbage?"

After several moments, Mike successfully grabbed Eva, who gave up with running around the house. Eva figured if he was part creeper, he remained capable of blowing up Eva and the surrounding area. "Let's take a walk outside." Mike intimidated Eva with an elongated hiss on each word. "Being a creeper does have its perks. You should of seen the look on your face!" Mike snorted with pleasure.

Mike tweaked some hidden mechanism with the door, and then it opened. Mike drug Eva outside into the rain. Eva made no attempt to dislodge Mike, for he was far too strong for Eva even with his one arm. Plus, she didn't know if he could explode.

Mike beamed, enjoying the terrible weather. He forced Eva to walk, pushing her over to a nearby oak tree.

Mike halted, detecting something. "Here's something I passed by earlier, and I can't deny that you did it." He still had a hold of Eva so she wouldn't scurry away. He parted the tall grass with his creeper feet, making his discovery. This was the unadulterated proof that Mike was searching for that Eva couldn't lie about. "Don't play stupid Eva. There's a cavern twelve blocks under. Hmmm… and the ground … it's burned from something. A potion, perhaps?" Mike cocked his head towards Eva, narrowing his human eye.

Eva stood there in the rain, envisioning that a mob strode unknowingly through the area the night three weeks ago. Or did the potion actually seep into the dirt and find its way to the cavern and transform something there? Eva stared down. That is why Jade claimed she had been on the Overworld before. If the last potion she made did work, Jade, whatever mob she was, probably stepped through it…

Mike returned to talking, making an important statement. "Eva, your potions are potent things. They take a hell of a long time before they start to degrade."

Eva stiffened from the chill of the pouring rain. "But, I tested them and they… just didn't work."

Mike couldn't believe the terrible excuses Eva was giving. "We'll everyone knows you NEED to wait a while, duhhh!

Mike started his bizarre idea of torture which was effectively freaking Eva out. He now began to hiss and expand, and Eva literally braced for an impact each time by clenching her fists. Mike couldn't help but laugh. Mike was having so much fun tormenting the witch. Mike knew this wasn't bad compared to what the people of Semitra would do to Eva once they discovered she was the one responsible for their transformations. Mike's mind filled with ideas of how the village would carry out with Eva's death. Burning? Drowning? A death arena? Hanging? Beheading? He snickered to himself at the cruel ways.

Mike grasped an iron sword and he then poked Eva with it, moving her forward through the drenched forest. Eva assumed that Mike stole all her supplies, including her trusty sword. Mike forced Eva to march along the river towards her doom. She didn't want to even think about what the people of Semitra would do with her.

As Mike forced Eva to walk, Eva was too busy with her fright to pay attention to Mike's previous statement. The potions, with the exception being Mike's, all worked with time. Mike visually saw the people converting gradually in the small town, but since Eva had a lack of patience, she couldn't wait on the mobs in the basement that she attempted to change. She simply when to sleep after, frustrated, and those brand new people behind the glass wall were then massacred by the hostile mobs. Or did the potions work differently on mobs? Were only humans and Testificates able to be altered by most of Eva's potions?

So how was Jade's potion different from the rest? Above all, what is she?


	6. Chapter 6-Obvious Clues

Jade had visualized creating a temporary safe house for the night from the large oak tree in front of her. This didn't happen, however, for Jade couldn't overcome the fatigue and dizziness from the blood loss. Instead she fell asleep in the early afternoon and slept all day against that tree.

Unintentionally, Jade kept on sleeping. The sky eventually became painted with various colors of pink, red, purple and orange, hinting at the coming night. The sun went over the horizon, and it was nighttime in Minecraftia.

In the forest, Jade snoozed as the creatures of the night came out. Zombies and skeletons arose from the ground, patrolling the area another night for threats. Spiders and creepers emerged from their caves, and a few Endermen practiced their art of moving blocks.

If Jade would awake, she would be in a state of all out panic. Perhaps it was good for Jade to sleep- her death would be struggle free.

But this night was something Jade would never expect.

As Jade slept peacefully in the night, mobs paced around her, giving her second glances. Most crept up to be a few meters from her, then they turned around and walked away as if Jade was a fellow mob. Obviously, Jade had no knowledge of this. However, her daily sleeping pattern was disrupted, and Jade was due to wake up sometime during the night to discover that the mobs left her alone.

Jade felt very regenerated when she woke up. She felt a light breeze blowing on her face and bare stomach. She opened her eyes instantly, expecting the mobs to be gone and the time to be early morning. Jade didn't receive what she wished. She recalled that she never built a place for the night- she fell asleep, which she didn't want to do. The sky had gone black, and it was speckled with bright stars and a moon overhead. Jade was alone, and she had no weapons or armor for protection. She didn't have a chance to survive the night alone without shelter. She considered retreating to Eva's house, but after Eva attempted to kill her, Jade had no intention of returning to her cottage.

Jade's hands moved across her head and she pulled her hair. What could she possibly do? Mobs were everywhere in the forest and some come within Jade's view. She decided to book it out of the dangerous woodlands and go east towards the plains from which she spawned. Perhaps there she would have a better chance at survival- the mobs would be more visible with less forestry to hide behind.

Sprinting past the oak and birch trees of the forest, Jade glanced around wildly for any mobs. The lack of light was enough to scare Jade. The presence of mobs made it all worse. They would slay her before she could throw a punch. "Only if the mobs could disappear for one night." Jade prayed as she saw an opening ahead.

Jade saw a spider ahead- she decided that it couldn't catch her if she kept the same speed. With her heart racing, she successfully eluded the spider without warning him. Jade didn't look back- the plains her just ahead of her.

Bolting into the clearing, Jade halted in her tracks. Three creepers blended in with the grassy lands, and they all gazed at her. They crept closer gingerly, and Jade retreated back, observing the area for another escape route. Jade was out of breath, but she tried her best to stay calm. She had to remain alert to survive this night. She was sure at least one other person had been in this dilemma before.

Turning to the right, Jade maneuvered around the creepers, breathing a sigh of relief. Her moment of luck was short-lived, however. Jade climbed over small hill of dirt to view that she was in all aspects, screwed. A horde of skeletons and zombies lay at the bottom of the tiny hill. The three creepers were behind her. To the right, various mobs watched Jade, coming her way. On the opposite side, some other creature stood a little further away, carrying some dirt around. Jade didn't know what it was capable of; Eva said something about it, but in Jade's hysteria, she forgot what it was called.

Jade's body shook; she thought that this was her end. The mobs strolled towards her, clearly planning their attacks. Tears welled up in her eyes as the mobs' sounds increased in volume. She clenched her fists. This was it. She expected the pain to come at any second. She decided to glue her eyes shut. She couldn't tolerate seeing herself being shredded by zombies or blown apart by creepers.

After a minute of her gut-wrenching wait, Jade managed to force her eyes open slightly. Her vision was obscured by her tears, but she noticed through her sobbing that the mobs… lost interest? They weren't anywhere near her; instead, they ignored her now more than anything. Jade stared at a nearby zombie that was limping around.

"Why?" Jade collapsed to the cool grass, her hands running over the blades. Looking back at the mobs, Jade had only one thing to say. "Why?" She choked on her remaining sobs. "Why didn't they attack?" Jade gazed up at the sky. It was midnight. If Jade had been asleep for a few hours outside, wouldn't the mobs have attacked her then…?

Jade held her head in her hands, trying to reason out what was supposed to be her death. She kept shaking her head, messaging her temples furiously. Getting up slowly, Jade began to walk forward, passing the zombies and skeletons. They exchanged bored glances, but they did nothing more. Jade was stuck staring at where the zombies' eyes should be. Jade was perturbed by that. A creature with absent eyes had no soul. Jade felt that the zombies would soon claim hers.

Pulling her gaze away from the undead, Jade viewed all the creatures. Why was their behavior different? They now left Jade, a human, alone. But didn't the mobs attack humans, no matter what race, appearance, or gender?

Jade found a bright red rose stemming up from the earth. How could the delicate flower coexist with all evil and ugly mobs? How could the people? Where the mobs here since the beginning of the Overworld, or did something bring them here?

"Why do I question everything?" Jade murmured as she neared a small lake in the plains, which had a zombie swimming through it. Jade had nothing but questions; didn't other people have the same thought about their world which was tainted with such mystery?

Strolling through the plains, Jade (or anyone for that matter) couldn't help but notice a similarity among the mobs. All of them, with the exception of the spiders, were humanoid. The zombies and skeletons clearly resembled humans the most, especially when they wore armor. Were they once fallen warriors? Why did zombies wear the same clothes? Was there a curse at play? Eva said there was this guy named Steve… Jade tried to remember- what did Eva say?

Eva. She booted Jade out of her house for explaining a dream. Did Eva and other Minecraftians have a religion? They must; and whatever Jade spoke of, whoever spoke to her, must have been an inevitable source of evil for Eva and those of the same faith. Jade heard that voice many times. In whatever scraps of memory that popped back into her head in the past hour, she recalled that man speaking to her since childhood. Childhood…then…

Was it a family member? If so, Jade did not fall out of the sky. She had a family. That hurt Jade the most. Whatever memory of her family was lost, two days ago. Why the hell did she magically lose memory two days ago? Jade's only wound was the cut in her arm, afflicted by Eva. When she rose up from the ground, Jade had no injuries. The old theory didn't make an ounce of sense. However, Jade didn't have her concrete evidence as proof of any family. For all she knew, her memory could she shoddy.

Her recollections now started to be coming back in pieces ever since her terror attack was over. Jade was gripping someone else in a hug. She recalled diamond blocks. She kept receiving a remembrance of a sword. An obsidian sword. Everything remained vague, and no faces or locations were seen. There were only feelings and objects that didn't seem to have much importance as of yet.

With the sky clouding, Jade observed the clouds covering the moon in the sky. "Rain's coming," Jade announced. The air had become more humid with the scent after a downfall. Jade headed northbound. Perhaps someone up that way could answer her burning questions.


	7. Chapter 7- Dual Escape

Eva clenched her teeth as she strode uncomfortably next to Mike and the river. She was sweating despite the rain's cold touch. Mike wrapped his arm around Eva as if she were a good friend, just in case if she decided to sprint into the forest. If Eva was a sensitive person, she would have been crying. She worried for Jade somewhat, although Eva's knowing that Jade was a mob made Eva lose some respect for the 'human.'

With her impending death an hour or two away, Eva didn't think of Jade much. She knew damn well that they were going to slay her in Semitra. Meanwhile, Mike was talking to Eva eccentrically, trying to annoy her.

"Eva, do you know something about creeps? If they blow themselves up, they come back to life somewhere else! Yep. Ready to assault another miner who just found diamond in a cavern!" Mike laughed out loud, right into Eva's left ear.

"Mmmm, one time I found Steve! Diamond armor on and all! Wooo, man, he knows how to fight! Took him about a thousand some deaths! The guy killed me like nothing. SSSSSssttt…" Mike made a move with Eva's sword. "Swooosh... SssstOuchh! That hurt Steve! Why are you ssssso mean?" Eva knew that Mike was insanely happy for having her die soon, but Eva didn't have knowledge that Mike came across Steve at any point.

Eva glanced to the right, hearing a drawn out moan. A zombie, just great. The rain continued falling down, which meant the undead and other mobs roamed freely.

Mike was very animated. He saw the potential here to cause some damage. He grabbed a hold of Eva firmly, and Mike made Eva watch as this zombie stepped closer to her through the trees.

Eva's eyes widened with terror. A zombie tearing through your flesh was very excruciating, but it was what Mike wanted- to hear Eva receive some pain.

Eva wasn't going to tolerate this. She believed was strong enough to at least shake of Mike and shove him into the cold, brutal river. In his confidence, Mike's cautiousness was slipping. Since Mike wasn't expecting Eva to make a move, Eva grabbed the iron sword that Mike was loosely holding in front of her. Mike was flabbergasted as he watched Eva rotate around to face him with the sword. She stabbed him quickly in the abdomen, and his hands rushed to attempt to pull the sword out of him. The blood running from the wound was decorating his already ruined shirt in more shades of crimson. Before he could consider activating his fuse, Eva gave Mike a vigorous kick in his chest into the thrashing river below. His limp, bleeding body tumbled down the decline and he was swallowed by the river in a thunderous splash. In a second, Eva saw the raging current push him down the river, forcing him under a few times. Whenever he surfaced, he hollered unrecognizable words. Eva didn't need to worry about him right now. The disgusting zombie was right in front of Eva.

Eva gave the zombie a sincere punch in the face. The zombie withdrew a few paces back. Then Eva kicked the zombie forcefully, and he was down. Eva didn't waste her time as the undead humanoid attempted to rise again. She ran back towards her abode which was only five minutes away. She assumed that her remaining supplies were hidden in the basement; Mike couldn't have taken them all.

Finally, Eva's cobblestone house came into view. She raced back to it as fast as possible. Eva felt her robes clinging to her, for she was completely soaked in water. When Eva neared her solid iron door, she found that it was wide open. It was closed before Mike hulled her off. "Great, what got in this time?" Eva thought as she hurried inside.

Eva searched wildly around the house and found one thing- her basement's hole was free of stone. Now, Eva heard much groaning from below, and she supposed the people down there were hurt. She wanted to go down quickly. Without thinking, she dropped into the hole without considering that the travelers have weapons or faking their calls for help. The ladder that was previously there was absent, and Eva hoped that the people won't there wouldn't intend any harm.

Immediately, Eva recognized the moaning and crying bloodstained girl as she lay immobile on the stone floor in a corner. She was a drenched, bare stomached Jade with unruly hair. She appeared about to slip in unconsciousness as she wailed in pain. A man clad in iron armor was facing towards Jade, consoling her as she bleed onto the floor. She was sliced all over her torso and legs; her eyes were sealed shut. Eva noticed a blood trial from the iron golem room to the corner where the two were by the glass wall. Jade survived the attack, but just barely. The man was pulling potions off of his belt and splashing them at Jade.

"Eva's here." Jade whispered to the man. Jade could feel her presence. Drafts of energy came off of Eva, and Jade could feel the atmosphere of the room change despite her misery.

"Thank Notch for my good potions," the man turned to face Eva, "or she'd be dead." He turned his head towards Jade. "Jade, take it easy." His voice was very masculine.

Eva studied the man, and she concluded that he was in his middle twenties. He appeared to be an adventurer, both possessing brown hair and dark chocolate eyes. Many battle wounds and scars existed on his face, and Eva noticed his glowing diamond sword as he gripped it loosely. His armor was dripping with Jade's blood, so Eva knew he must have rescued her. Eva was captivated that Jade was still alive, for she must have taken a nasty blow by the iron golem.

"Who are you?" Eva was focusing more on Jade, who was recovering quickly from the damage. The potions were rapidly curing Jade's wounds.

"Name's Zeke. I live in my cottage up north. I know you Eva. You just don't know me. Found this girl at five in the morning in the rain outside knockin' on my door. I didn't know how she survived the night at first, but she was a mess. She told me that she was kicked out of your house for being evil." Zeke leaned against the glass wall, his diamond sword gleaming off of the torches' lights.

"What happened in there?" Eva directed toward the iron golem room.

"She didn't know that your golem was in there. She opened the iron door, then she got attacked. Jade thought the scraping metal was from me openin' the door again. She had no chance to escape the golem. I went in to get her. Pulled her out after she was attacked three times."

Eva tuned in more. "You said_ three_ times, right?" Eva shook her head at an angle, responding sluggishly. "No mob, human, or Testificate can survive three blows from an iron golem."

"She did. I can't imagine how." Zeke didn't break eye contact with Eva. He knew Eva had more information to confess to.

"Semitra!" Jade breathed as she relaxed on the floor, her wounds more healed than before. "He told me about Semitra."

"Yes Eva," Zeke began, his armor scraping roughly against the stone floor to get Eva's attention. "Heard from up north that Semitra has some issues."

Eva looked about the room. "How did you know that?"

"Well, I got all those people up there. They look terrible. Looks like _you_ crossed them with zombies, creepers, and whatnot. They came up to my place upstream to ask if any witch around the area makes potions. They were the most pissed off crowd I'd ever seen. You know those people had contaminated water. They live in a desert, the only source of water being that river. You created a disaster."

"How did you know it was me?" Eva paced towards Jade.

"They suspected you. No, they _know_ it's you. We came here because they said that someone named Mike explained that you were the only other house in the area..." Jade began to force herself up from the floor. "Explains some things about me then, like how your golem almost killed me. That also explains why no mob attacked me last night. You're the witch Eva. I thought you were better than this. Well, you lashed out at me yesterday saying I was evil for having a damn dream. You kicked me out and almost gave me a heart attack last night; I thought I was going to die. But of course, the mobs didn't touch me." Jade's green eyes blazed. Did they change color from the last time Eva saw her?

"That's because I thought-"

"Thought what?" Zeke approached Eva, his sword close by his side.

"My religion states that people with dreams with an unidentified voice include him- Herobrine. That Herobrine belongs to them and they must be eliminated for working with him, loving evil, and for respecting him."

Jade spluttered her words out. "You- you thought I was a witch, Eva? You can't get more hypocritical. How many other people have you afflicted over the past few years?" Jade stood, her clothes soaked were so soaked that they dripped in her own blood. "I know you transformed me. You made me forget what I was! Why do you need to screw around with everything?"

"I only-"

"No!" Zeke pointed his brilliant sword at Eva. "We can't let you on the loose no longer Eva. I'll get rid of you here!"

Zeke slashed the air, and Eva felt the air's movement as she jumped out of the way. Eva had no weapons, armor, or an escape route to flee to the surface. She did have the Nether portal and her iron golem however. Eva did have a way out.

To slow Zeke's progress, Eva smashed into her glass wall, ramming herself into it. A million shards of glass cut the nearby creatures on both sides of the walls. Eva knew to get to the Nether portal room, for Zeke was now distracted by zombies, creepers, skeletons, and spiders. Where Eva would go once she arrived in the Nether- she had no clue. Eva knew many other people constructed Nether portals; she could find their portals and return to the Overworld.

In what was a total blur, Eva watched as Zeke and Jade shielded themselves from the glass. Zeke cursed loudly as he swung his sword at a hissing creeper. Eva raced over to the Nether Portal room to open the iron door, pressing the nearby button. The glass cuts stung now, but Eva forced herself past the pain. A little ways in front of her was the portal, the purple energy it emitted swirling. Nearing it, she felt the purple particles tingeing her face lightly. Hearing the sound of flowing lava, blazes, ghasts and zombie pigmen, Eva jumped into the portal, and she was on her way to the Nether.


	8. Chapter 8-Bearers of Bad News

Zeke was fighting the mobs alone that were spawned behind the once present glass wall. He had much expertise, but some of the skeletons' arrows managed to strike him. Zeke viewed the wounds as more experience, and everyone that knew him well acknowledged he was tough.

Zeke was ambushed, and Jade could realize through his cunning skills that he needed some assistance. Jade healed quickly for whatever creature she was, and she knew she could put up a fight with bare fists.

Jade received some additional injuries from when Eva broke through her glass wall, but it felt like nothing compared to the iron golem attack. Jade headed to the dark area, and she was considering taken out the skeletons that distracted Zeke the most. As Zeke wrestled with a spider and two zombies, Jade advanced towards a skeleton enjoying firing arrows at Zeke. With a one armed punch, Jade separated the skeleton's skull from its spinal column. The thing faded into grey powder, and Jade felt governing and dominant. She decided to pick on another skeleton, and this time she kicked it in its rib cage towards a stone wall. The sack of bones fell apart into a crash of dust upon impact, its bow flying out of its hands.

Eventually, the two finished off the pack of mobs. Zeke pulled out an extra set of torches and lit up the old mob spawning area. They assembled themselves by the Nether portal room and relaxed, breathing heavily from the decent fight. The portal's energy was no longer there; three of the obsidian blocks had been removed. The iron golem must have been instructed to by Eva to remove the blocks out while Zeke and Jade were busy.

"So," Jade began, "She had a strategy."

"I know. She had him destroyed the portal- obsidian?" Zeke paraded around furiously through the chests, looking for the purple stone. He ripped out the contents of the chests, absolutely showing no compassion for any of Eva's belongings. "I had friends in Semitra, now I'm… just sick because she screwed them, killing them, I- dammit, Eva, you bitch!" Zeke slammed the large chests he scrambled though shut. "The chests upstairs were empty, fuck, she knew about of this!"

Zeke continued to ramble on, but Jade knew they had to report the news to the others residing in Zeke's house upstream as soon as possible. "Zeke, are you done? We need to get out of here, tell the others! Tivona, Bryan, and Alister don't have much time."

"You're some mob, right?" Zeke uttered quickly, reconstructing the ladder back to the main floor.

"I figure so." Jade responded with a raised eyebrow from Zeke's abrupt question.

"Alright." Zeke grabbed his diamond sword off the grey floor, and he and Jade climbed up. Jade and Zeke left the bloodied, untidy, and debris-filled room behind them.

"Zeke," Jade spoke, "Why aren't you slaying me? I'm just another villainous mob. Why did you spare me?"

"Seven years ago, I was alone; it was dark and…." Zeke ceased the description, and then he changed the subject. "You ain't hurting me. You helped me find Eva and kill those mobs."

"You have a story?" Jade was rather intrigued in the story as the two neared the doorway. It sounded as if Zeke had a personal reason for not attacking. For Jade, that was rather unforeseen.

"I'll tell you later. It's kind of embarrassing. I never told nobody about it. I…I had to do it." Zeke recalled the memory, pausing for a moment. "Let's just get back home. I know you want to get out of those clothes." Zeke was already through the door.

Jade looked about the house one more time. Jade came in thinking she was normal. She thought she was human. After, she thought she was a mob. That then escalated to Jade thinking she couldn't be a conventional mob which roamed outside. What else about herself would she find out?

"You coming?" Zeke called though the doorway. The rain had stopped, but it was still humid outside.

"Yeah." Jade turned toward Zeke and out the door.

After the two moved a little ways north in the forest, Zeke started a conversation.

"Do you remember anything from your old life?"

From the early morning hours until present, Jade had only pieces of her memory that returned to her. "I remember an obsidian sword, diamond blocks, someone hugging me, and most recently, eating some dark food. I have no idea what it was."

"Yeah, not much help there. I've only know you for a few hours, but that's terrible. I mean that you don't even know who or what you are."

"I keep wondering if my real name is Jade. I wonder about everything."

"I don't know how you survived the attack. Jade, only two things can take that damage. The Enderdragon and a Wither. Most mobs you see can't take one blow."

"Enderdragon?" Jade questioned as the two strolled through the trees. "Where would you find a dragon?" Jade pictured a colossal dragon wondering the Overworld, destroying everything it touched as it dominated the skies.

"The End. It's an actual place, few returned, so there's the name. It's a floating rock, dark, miserable- only the dragon and Endermen are there. Or so they say. Legend exists you can fall off the island… into the void, falling until the cold freezes you." Zeke seemed to shudder a little, but Jade thought it was only her imagination.

Jade's dream returned to her instantly. She snapped her fingers in recollection. "My dream. The one I explained to Eva before she kicked me out. I was falling down forever, being told one word. Themselves." She stopped in her tracks, becoming chilled herself from her damped attire.

Zeke slowed, turning his head to Jade. "Really?"

"No lie. There was the voice, cold, darkness… but I couldn't have been there. I'd be dead. I didn't tell Eva or really notice then, but for some reason I though was it insignificant at the time- something felt like it was weighing me down, it wasn't the air..."

"Strange… you're very strange Jade."

"You can say that again. I just hope that soon we can straighten out Eva's mess."

Zeke gave a half-hearted nod. Both knew that some parts to Eva's pandemonium were beyond repair.


	9. Chapter 9-Time

Zeke's house finally came into view; it wasn't anything special, since it was just a simple wooden structure. The house has built on the base of a small mountain by the river Eva polluted. Zeke must have constructed it as a temporary shelter, but ever since the Semitra incident, Zeke planned to say around until the problem was resolved.

"Ahh, home sweet home." Zeke snickered. "Damn house needs an improvement."

Jade breathed a sigh of relief as soon as she saw the house. Finally she could wash off the blood and the despair she felt from earlier. The air was warming and the atmosphere was muggy, for the plains felt warmer than the leaf-filled forest.

Opening the front wooden door, Zeke's house wasn't elaborate at all. The floor was still grass, there was little furniture, and it was a tiny cube meant for only two to three people. Jade breathed in the scent of the rather fresh scent of chopped oak wood upon her entry. Zeke had some guests from Semitra currently residing in his abode. There were three other people in there, all partly mobs. Currently, there was one man and one young woman. Jade knew them from when she saw them earlier in the morning.

Tivona, the only other female, was astounded to see Jade, her clothing blood soaked. Tivona stood up from one of the red blanketed beds in the cramped house and bolted towards Jade. Tivona was seventeen years old with blonde hair and two glowing blue-grey eyes. She had tanned skin and was once very glamorous, but now she was forever changed. Tivona was only one of the two residents in Semitra to now be half- Enderman, and Tivona didn't accept it whatsoever. Tivona's body wasn't disproportionate, but she was too tall for an average human. She was reaching seven feet (213 cm) in height. She now wore a long white robe; nothing else fit her. Other than her height and eyes, Tivona showed no other sign that she could be turning as of yet.

"Jade, your blood, why all the blood…" Tivona trailed off.

Zeke answered for Tivona. "Jade took three nasty hits from a golem. Surprised she survived. I had to heal her… with potions." Zeke knew that those people would dislike that word for the rest of their lives. Eva's potions were Semitra's downfall. At first, the citizens in the town blamed each other from the transformations. The town had gone mad, most insane from rapidly becoming undead zombies hungry for the flesh of other villagers. Some fled such as the three in Zeke's house; thankfully all had the ability to reason… for now. Rumors spread that a witch changed them from the polluted river water. The only other house in the area was Eva's, and since Mike's visit to Semitra, the remaining villagers in the corrupted town turned against Eva.

"Three? How?" A man at a crafting table stopped what he was doing. The man was still rather normal, since his worn face showed no signs of being a half-creeper human. One of the man's arms was turning the creeper green. For some reason, he and his daughter didn't transform as fast as the other residents of Semitra. He was in his forties, possessing a greying beard and balding head. He was Tivona's father, and his name was Bryan. Just like his daughter, he was tanned from living in a desert. Bryan wore iron armor, and Bryan had been Semitra's blacksmith. Currently he was making handles for pickaxes.

"I'm not normal. I'm just- I don't know." Jade shivered from looking at Bryan's creeper arm. Jade wondered how Bryan, Tivona, and Alister were coping with their changes.

"Where's Alister at?" Zeke asked Bryan.

"He went to get some food. He left about an hour ago. He'll be here soon." Bryan returned to the handles he was crafting.

"Why did he search for food?" Zeke focused on Bryan's crafting skills.

Bryan turned towards Zeke, who was standing by the only purple bed in a corner. "He was bored, so he decided to go out." Bryan shook his head. "My nephew- his time is running out. If these are his last days… let him enjoy his time." Bryan viewed Zeke's firm face gradually become grim.

"Jade," Tivona began as she tried to ignore Zeke and her father's conversation, "Do you want a bath and other clothes? The little room in the back has a tub. I have clothes to give you, I hope they fit you; I'm too tall now."

Tivona ventured outside to fetch some water. Jade used the furnaces to heat the buckets until it they were warm. After a few buckets, the bathtub was filled enough. Jade retreated to the washroom to finally remove her nasty clothes and relax in the tub, and Jade felt that she deserved it.

Meanwhile, the three others sat at Zeke's petite table in the corner of the great room. Zeke started explaining Eva's whereabouts. "Eva's in the Nether. We tried to go after her, but the portal was destroyed by the golem. So… we returned with the bad news."

Tivona uttered of her cousin, since he was the prime concern right next to Eva. "I fear for Alister. I'm getting scared now. Over the past few days, he's been so mean and lost." Tivona stated, blinking a few times. "The first are the zombies, then the skeletons. The creepers take more time, then the Ender..." Tivona couldn't finish.

"I know. Alister… I'm worried for him. W…W…will I need to kill him? " Zeke looked out the window, and currently it was midafternoon. Zeke's previous sentence hung heavily in the air. If nothing was done, eventually Alister and Zeke will be involved in a brawl. "How long has he been gone?"

Bryan stood up, agitated, not answering Zeke's question. "Why didn't they just kill Eva when she changed Mike? The villagers should have gotten rid of her then and there! Instead, they gave her a choice!" Bryan's hands flew up into the air. "Semitra lost about fifty people because they became zombies. Then those zombies ate more people, but we-"Bryan looked at the bathroom door and his daughter- "are worse creatures than them! When will we go insane?"

Tivona peered at the table, her fingers following the wood grain. She appeared to be crying. "I lost my boyfriend, my friends, my aunt, my mom… I don't know." Her head turned towards Zeke. "This is a mob-filled house now. Zeke, what if you look at me one day and I snap? What if I kill you?" Tivona traced the grain repeatedly as her tears fell to the table. Tivona then held her head in her hands as if she had a pounding headache.

"Don't say that." Bryan warned his daughter. "Don't think of that!" Bryan and the others couldn't think of anything uplifting to say. All knew if nothing was done, that day would come.

The conversation ended on a hostile and solemn note. The three couldn't think of much to do to improve the mood, so they waited until Alister returned or when Jade stepped out of the washroom to drum up additional ideas.


	10. Chapter 10- A Solution Found?

About an hour later, Alister kicked at the front door holding a heap of meat, vegetables and fruit in his skinny arms. Zeke noticed the teenager at the door and he rushed over, stopping his working with Bryan to assist Alister. Alister was the youngest; he was only fifteen years old. Alister was never very well-built, but anyone could tell that Alister was losing weight unhealthy. Alister's small green shirt and black jeans were very baggy and loose on him, and his feet slipped out of his worn checkered shoes with every step that he took. Alister's bones were highly visible in his face, and his brown eyes appeared to be very sunken in their sockets. Alister's deepening violet eyelids conveyed the fact that he hadn't slept for days. Simply put, Alister was on the path to being a complete skeleton- literally. Alister ate much less food than the others, and with each day, his appetite dwindled more and more. It was natural for the entire group to fear for Alister the most, for he had the least time left. For someone so young, he didn't deserve this fate.

Alister plopped his gatherings on the table, his face expressing much apathy as some of the food fell to the grassy floor. Tivona wiped her face as she picked her head up lazily from the table to observe the gatherings. Bryan stopped his sword crafting session to take a look at Alister's harvest from the nearby town of Erimere to the north. Alister breathed out shakily, and then he sat at the nearest open bench seat.

"Thanks for the food Alice." Tivona managed to smile at the youngest member of the household. Alister stared at her unhappily for a moment, and then he turned to his uncle.

"Bad news. The nearby city to the west is beginning to quarantine all afflicted residents they can find. I heard from a shopkeeper that the city possibly may… kill them." Alister paused for a moment, considering four out of the five guests in the house will become mobs. "They think our problem is contagious. They don't know about her." Alister muttered the entire description in a bleak and raspy tone of voice. His voice sounded as if it will give out soon.

Bryan's temper flared. "Contagious? Do they know about her at all? I had in up to here with this stuff!" Bryan's face became bright red in anger. "Did they kill anyone yet? Or is that the rumor?" Bryan's anger refused to subside; he was lashing out at Alister who already was doomed above everyone else.

"Dad," Tivona stood up and moved towards her father. "Relax before you really will explode. _I_ should be the one having a fit like that."

Bryan backed away to peer out the window as he removed his helmet to reveal his grey-streaked hair. His eyes focused solely on the rushing, clear blue river. Breathing out, he replied, "I want to forget that I'll be able to do that."

Zeke looked helplessly at the food, then to the frail Alister. "Something's gotta be done. I'm not going to wait until one of you kill me."

"What possible things can we do?" Alister kept viewing the bathroom door, and from the splashing, he surmised Jade was getting out. She must have fallen asleep in there due to her exhausting day.

"I've been thinking of traveling to the Nether, or at least finding any nearby Nether portals. Eva has to come through one nearby." Zeke shrugged his shoulders, suggesting that he himself didn't enjoy the idea of running around to find Eva.

Tivona shook her head. "I won't go there." Tivona gazed at Zeke with her calculating glowing eyes. "I'd want to solve the mob problem first."

"And how'd you do that?" Alister shifted though the food pile as if he would take something. "I'd say we're done, idiot. The potions are doing their damage." He showed no fear of his towering older relative.

"But this was caused by a potion! Can't this be reversed with another?"

"Try it and see how much further you'd screw things up. Next you'll be an undead Enderman."

"Alice, why would you just want to become nothing but bones? Something's got to be done before you end up burning in the sunlight. You didn't plan on dying like that!"

"I never planned on dying in the first place, Ender-bitch." Alister received some very distraught expressions from Bryan and Zeke after cussing at his cousin.

"What's your problem with Tivona?" Bryan was endangered of becoming flustered again.

"She's losing her brains faster than I am. These Endermen are stupid bastards." Alister showed obvious hatred as he tried to squeeze an apple as a stress reliever. Tivona moved away from Alister, and she looked out the window with her back to the table.

Zeke chimed in after being silent for a while. "Remember what I told you the other day about this stuff Alice…"

A moment of stillness hovered in the room. Alister had been this way towards only Tivona for days, and no one could fathom why. Bryan, staring at Alister, knew there was a reason behind his behavior towards his daughter. Alister never showed this much contempt for one mob before. Alister didn't lose his family to Endermen or anything…

Suddenly, an epiphany occurred rapidly to Bryan. "Eva's predilections are taking over your thoughts," Bryan concluded as he glowered at his nephew. "Her feelings are coming out in you. No wonder why you've been difficult lately."

Jade then emerged from the bathroom with combed, dampened brown hair and a towel. She was now changed into Tivona's old clothes. The top was a simple black and blue striped shirt and the bottom a slim white skirt embroidered with different designs. The clothes appeared a little too large on her, but it had to beat her blood soaked ones from earlier.

Jade saw that Bryan was hunched over the table towards Alister. Tivona was focusing on the recent sunset and Zeke encircled him as Alister concentrated only on his uncle with focused brown eyes. Jade was woken up by their yelling, and she attempted to listen while she was getting dressed. She too knew why Alister didn't get along with Tivona. Bryan had hit the reason why.

The conversation continued and the others were too busy or distracted to notice that Jade exited the washroom. She interrupted the argument among them.

"This is how you spend your remaining days or weeks? Don't waste what time you have left." Jade stated loudly to the turned backs of Bryan, Tivona and Zeke. Jade wasn't here to wait for a miracle. These people still had a chance to reverse things.

"I think all of you should stop your bickering and we should figure something out." Jade parted between Bryan and Zeke. She motioned Tivona to be a little closer to the table. Jade looked at the faces of the four others. Everyone expected her to concoct an idea.

"Eva's the only one who knows what these potions are made of. She'd have to be the one to reverse your problems. Her potions aren't common ones, trust me, I saw some of her 'normal' ones."

"I don't want to see-"Alister crossed his arms in disgust as Bryan cut him off.

"How would you get her to give that information up? She'll probably try to kill us! I'm not going to follow her forever to find her."

"We aren't going to chase her; it's more time wasted. When Zeke and I went to her house I realized that all the ancient books she used to read weren't there. I remembered she had a bookshelf upstairs yesterday…" Jade couldn't believe that so much had happened over the course of one day. It seemed like years since she was eating a meal at Eva's table.

"She took them!" Tivona blurted out. "They are with her in the Nether."

Jade shook her head. "Nothing was on her when she went to the Nether. I knew it."

'Then… what do you plan to do?" Alister said annoyed, for he was unconvinced that Jade had a good idea.

"Someone took them from before. Remember Mike told all of you that he was going to look for her spell books? I wondered why all of Eva's stuff was downstairs when I was there earlier. I think he was there. But then Eva came back to the house, and she probably suspected that we messed the place up searching. Mike has her stuff. He's probably in Semitra. But I can't imagine the condition of the town…"

"Any proof on that?" Zeke mentioned as he and the others began to settle down and take the food in the mound at the table. The sky was darkening outside, and currently the sun had just sat. Bryan assembled some torches in Zeke's abode as he listened to Jade's words.

"It's my mob instinct. Mike has everything we need."

Alister butted in. "I hope you're right. It'd be a shame if we didn't find him." Jade hoped that Alister was himself right now and not being sarcastic.

"I'm not guaranteeing anything. We just need to try something other than fight every chance we get." Jade regretted her sentence, since it then was met with opposition.

"What if we can't find Mike, just like Eva? What will we do next?" Alister's contentious attitude was swelling up once again.

Tivona boldly pointed towards the northeast. Only Jade understood where she was coming from, and the other three gave her confounded expressions. "We go there."

Alister refrained from another insult as he hissed out, "Why there? The town doesn't have any information."

"Not there. _Past _there."

Alister looked about the room, pondering what Tivona meant. In a minute, he nodded, narrowing his eyes at her. "You got a long walk." He attempted to respond nicely.

Immediately the entire room understood. Their answers would the easiest accessed if taken from the source of the matter. Maybe then their hope wouldn't be snuffed out.

**Woo, I'd never knew that this fanfic would be so fun to write! Thanks for your reviews. Yeah, if you're confused on where they're going... I'll tell you later. Bye, Lynnie.


	11. Chapter 11- Setting Off

After a short discussion before the group went (or tried to go) to sleep, they decided that everyone shouldn't go to Tivona's envisioned destination. Bryan stated that he and Alister should return to Erimere so a cleric there could slow Alister's physical transformation. His mind, however, was destined to fail very soon. Alister's belief that a cure was possible to attain hovered at a level next to none.

After an incredibly long session of talking, debating, and reasoning, Bryan finally gave into to Tivona's demands that she and Jade should go Tivona's place of interest. Bryan utterly refused to let his daughter go by herself, despite the fact that no mob will attack her. Tivona considered that Jade should accompany her, since Jade was a strong mob and could take a beating if the two were caught by a city patrol or bandits. Although Jade disliked the idea of more injury, she agreed with Tivona, for Tivona wasn't skilled enough to fight if the need arose.

No one opposed that Zeke should go to Semitra. Tough-as-nails Zeke confidently could handle the dangerous town of undead and ruins caused by creepers. Along with Zeke's armor and diamond sword, the task for him appeared to be simply child's play.

The following morning, Bryan gave some modified iron armor to Tivona. Bryan had worked on the armor well into the nighttime hours. Bryan had to expand a regular set of armor, which then mounted up to his using of about thirty iron ingots in total for crafting it. The only flaw being the leggings were a tad too short, the armor fit Tivona well. Jade received an iron sword and regular iron armor for their trip. Tivona was given a short sword in case Jade wasn't next to Tivona to aid in helping her if she got attacked.

After the goods were distributed, food and water was handed out, and then the groups were off to go their own. Zeke gave a wave and told the four others, "Good luck; see all of you soon." With that, he left his lackluster cottage and strode towards the south as everyone but Alister wished him good-bye.

Bryan quickly explained the plan which was composed last night. "Tivona, be careful. Jade, try not to leave her side. She's never taken a trip this long before. Once you find what you need, return to Erimere's medicine shop immediately, for Alister's sake." Meanwhile, Alister rolled his eyes like Tivona's and Jade's long excursion was useless in helping Alister recover.

"We'll be fine," Tivona assured her dad. "We'll get what you need."

"Good. I'll see you in a few days. Be cautious; some people up that way aren't the nicest kind. Jade, here, if your sword breaks-"Bryan gave Jade a bow and a quiver stuffed with arrows. The bow and arrow was Jade's favorite weapon.

"Thanks for that." Jade gave one last smile to Bryan and Alister as Bryan shoved them out of the house.

After another good-bye and a hug, Tivona parted with her father and came near Jade. "Let's go."

The two left the familiar area they've grown accustomed to and walked through the morning in the plains. Fresh dew glistened on all the blades of grass in the humid, sweet, summer-like air. The weather was now pleasant after the previous day's rain. Their journey would expand for many days; Jade hoped that at least the weather wouldn't hinder their progress.

The two walked for hours, exchanging little conversation. Their current problems that they shared was all that held them together. Tivona and Jade simply never were destined to ever be friends. They finally decided to call it quits in a pine forest where it suddenly began to snow. The air's temperature dropped several degrees, and the wind had picked up- definitely that was an invitation to get frostbite. In the distance, lightning flashed and thunder crackled and boomed in another biome nearby. The darkening sky now allowed for mobs to spawn in close proximity to their location.

Tivona started a more in-depth conversation as the two settled in a shallow cave, out of the wind and snow. They automatically pulled out food and water, both exhausted from the long hike. Tivona began to remove her armor and she put on more insulated clothing that her father had given her. "I can't believe I suggested this. If we get no other problems, we'll get there in about one day if we don't take a break, and that's not happening. At this pace, it'll take two and a half days for both ways, and Alister would be completely done for."

"At least we don't need to worry about the mobs tonight, thank goodness." Jade attempted to raise Tivona's morale while Jade removed her iron armor and put layers of Zeke's heavier clothing over Tivona's skimpy clothes. After their changing session, both of them settled on the floor of the cavern further away from the cave's entrance.

"But Alister only has a few days," Tivona mentioned as she pulled apart some bread. "He got infected before me or my dad. I can't stop worrying about him, no matter how mean he gets."

"What about you, Tivona? What about your time left? Will you be okay in few days or a week's time?" Jade asked Tivona calmly, attempting to see if Tivona ever thought of her own issue.

Tivona must have taken in Jade's words the wrong way. "And you, Jade?" Tivona clearly put herself on the bottom of her priority list. Tivona spoke in a matter-of-fact tone, as if she was absolutely smarter than Jade. "What will happen when you change yourself? You seem to have forgotten about yourself! What evil mob will you become? You won't care about me, my family, or Zeke. What you _will_ do is kill innocent people without remorse, like the rest of your disgusting mob kind-" Suddenly, Tivona realized she had gone a bit too far, but Jade had heard each word Tivona had just said.

Jade finally ceased eating her collection of fruit and vegetables and narrowed her eyes at Tivona, giving Tivona a death stare. Tivona saw that this Jade was boiling mad, her reddened face twisting into a complexion of aggression, and certainly not one to fool with or argue with. Jade couldn't tolerate where Tivona was going anymore. It made Jade feel as if she was only useful to Tivona until Jade returned to her mob state. After, Jade was the equivalent to green pond scum. For the first time, Jade was pissed at Tivona, and she didn't hide it. "What, you think when I am a total mob, I'll turn on you just because I am one? Like that? No other reason, like I completely lost all the memories I've gained so far? Unless I'm undead, which I'm not, the world doesn't run that way!"

Jade was doing her best to help these devastated people from Semitra, yet Tivona kept criticizing Jade for being a mob. That issue was only Jade's, and not one for Tivona to bring up each chance she got. Maybe Tivona's family possessed a notion that finding one's Achilles heel could easily prove a point- disrespectfully. "You're lucky you still have Alister and your father. They loved you, or at least did. I don't have clue who may parents can possibly be. You have your original name. Mine isn't even Jade. My only friend has turned on me; now I have none. I may look like I'm only about twenty, but I assure you, I'm much older than that. I am a mob, and you will be soon. At least you know what the hell you'll become. Compared to you, I have nothing to live for." Jade picked herself up from the cold stone floor and exited the cave, leaving Tivona behind. Jade violated a rule set by Tivona's father, but she had to get away from Tivona before Jade would be the one to endanger Bryan's daughter.

While Jade was outside, Tivona felt uneasy, which was a combination to Jade's outburst and the creepiness from within the cave. Jade had a reason for being ticked off, but she didn't need to be that offensive to a person that may lose her family herself. Perhaps Jade's mob side is being released even sooner due to the stress from the complete dilemma Eva caused.

Uproars in the cave met Tivona's ears, sending increasing cold chills through her. The cavern was shallow, but did venture further back into the ground. The walls were composed of a rigid assortment of stone and dirt, and some of the dirt blocks were out of place, probably because of Endermen. Tivona heard repeated noises of mobs- zombies, spiders, and she swore she caught the sounds of various Endermen. Tivona knew that none would attack her, but she couldn't shake the feeling. Jade's temper tantrum probably meant that she wasn't returning to the cavern for a few more minutes. What if something did attack Tivona? Tivona was never formally taught how to fight- she was trained from a young age how to be a good housewife for later in life. Once or twice her father mentioned to her how to defend herself from a zombie or a creeper, but not much else. The feelings of solitude in the gloomy area made Tivona want to bolt out of the cave and find Jade, no matter how flustered she would still be.

While Tivona focused on her food instead of the dim and ghastly cave, an Enderman decided that he would round the corner to view the unwelcome guest in his cave. For one very brief moment, he thought that he was actually looking at a female Enderman. His hopes then came crashing down, however. That wasn't an Enderman at all. He felt no pearl inside the body to confirm that the creature was an Enderman. He approached the creature which was drinking water, the clear liquid that hurt him above anything else in the Overworld. Certainly she was not one of him. He needed to get a better look. What is she…?

Tivona scarfed down the water remaining in her bucket rapidly. She was surprised that she was still able to drink it. Pretty soon it would burn a hole through her mouth and throat… she'll consider that later. Right now, she kept hearing stones chitter against the bare rock of the cavern's floor; some mob was kicking them as it exited the cave. Tivona cautiously turned around, and she began to see purple particles appearing from where the cavern turned in deeper into the black depths. An Enderman. Tivona assumed that this Enderman would cause no trouble. He would be friendly now, right?

The opposite occurred. Just as with any other human, the Enderman opened his mouth and screamed at Tivona in a menacing, horrid moan. He shook wildly as he glared at Tivona, who was sitting on the floor, trying not to run away from the dangerous creature that threatened her. Tivona did as her father told her to do. Stare and call for help. Tivona's voice was shaky as she wouldn't let her eyes move a wink away from the Enderman's violet ones. While Tivona began to search for her little sword without looking in her bag, she hollered out, "JADE! JADE! HELP ME! PLEASE!"

Jade was busy gathering firewood in the pine forest. She took out all her frustration by chopping down each tree and collecting the logs. The resourceful Jade planted a sapling to replace each tree she had cleared. For a few minutes, all was fine. Of course, something always goes wrong. Tivona was calling for Jade, shouting at the top of her lungs. Jade dropped her heap of firewood and sprinted towards the cave. "This better be important." Jade mused as snow bit at her bare face.

Once Jade returned to the cavern she saw that Tivona was staring absorbedly at an Enderman. The Enderman was clearly hostile, and Tivona's stare prevented him from attacking. Tivona appeared torn in determining whether to stab the Enderman with her dagger or to wait. The most puzzling part about the matter was Tivona is supposed to be altering to become an Enderman, yet one wanted to attack her.

Jade pulled out her sword from its leather casing. The metal sword glistened in the pale light, attracting the Enderman's attention. The Enderman turned towards Jade, completely ignoring Tivona now.

Tivona, still distressed, examined the Enderman swiftly paused his terrible scream upon his inspecting of Jade. Jade pronounced her words with an ample sense of authority. "I bid that you close your mouth sir. You leave her alone, or this sword shall cut through your body so fast that your head will spin."

To Tivona's amazement, the Enderman obeyed without question. He quit his violent trembling and clamped his mouth shut. He actually nodded slowly to Jade before he returned to the darker corridors of the cave. How did the Enderman understand English? Tivona watched him as he left without becoming aggravated. She turned to Jade, her face abnormal with multiple emotions of astonishment, shock, and confusion. "H…how'd you do that?"

"I was told that I'm not a normal mob. If so, I must rank high in mob society. I've proved it." Jade returned her sword to its sheath. "Let's get out of here."


	12. Chapter 12- Eureka! Eureka!

**Long chapter, since I made all of y'all wait two weeks. Thank goodness the boring stuff is almost over. **

"Jade," Tivona muttered as she and Jade strode over drenched, swampy ground. "We're almost here… thank goodness!"

Jade and Tivona had been gone from Zeke's house for two days, getting little to no sleep to arrive at their destination. The colors of orange, red and pink were becoming more prominent in the eastern sky as the sun approached its rising. Mobs lazed and grumbled around, the coming daylight ruining their nightly routine patrolling. Tivona kept her head down most of the night, since for some illogical reason, only Endermen attacked her. All other mobs ignored Tivona as Tivona and Jade carried on throughout the nighttime hours. Neither Jade nor Tivona was clear on the reasoning why Endermen reacted the way they did towards Tivona. Tivona was still perplexed how Jade managed to firmly talk an Enderman out of injuring her. The questions remained hidden in the back off their minds as their priorities reigned over the strange occurrences.

Jade and Tivona gasped and wheezed as they finally made their way towards a well-lit cavern in the woody, insect-filled swamp. Certainly someone would have been here before. The caverns lead to a stronghold, one of the only three in the entire world. Legend had it that ancient Endermen built these huge labyrinth-like structures to distract and discourage humans from finding the End portal entwined within the crumbling walls. When the portals were open, hundreds of Endermen would travel though them at a high rate in the past. Somehow, each portal was destroyed to protect humans from the petrifying abominations that passed through. However, some Endermen still manage to visit the Overworld, but only the strongest adult males. All of them must have been urgently ordered to accomplish some sort of task, for the Endermen's ignorance of the Overworld become obvious when they met pouring rain or a sword-wielding human.

Tivona noticed that although this cavern was explored and lighten, it hasn't seen a human for months to years. If applied with adequate magic, torches could burn for centuries. These torches in the cavern burned so long that they were almost completely expired, even with their weak magic. They may even be the original torches that were placed here hundreds of years ago.

They both descended further more into the cave, distinguishing where miners had once picked at ores in the stone. Picturing the frantic miners preparing to go and activate the End portal, Tivona conversed about something that Jade probably didn't know much about. "My dad told me that not many people go to The End anymore. He told me that the Enderdragon was slain about two hundred years ago. Of course Steve did it, the legendary hero. He's still alive, getting riches and living luxuriously in some place…"

"So the End is now ruled by nothing but the Endermen?" Jade mentioned as she lead Tivona down into the cavern, keeping an eye out for holes and any loose gravel.

"You're right. People hoped that the Endermen would vanish if the Enderdragon was destroyed, but more keep on coming to the Overworld. They're all pissed off for losing their leader. I should have known they are never friendly."

The two followed whatever direction the old torches lead them for about ten minutes. After they rounded a tight corner, the familiar worn, cracked, and wet moss-filled masonry began and formed a long hallway towards a decayed and rusted iron door. Tivona and Jade knew that this was just a fraction of what was in the stronghold. Finding the library was the goal of this mission, and neither of them would waste any time. Jade activated the ancient button which slowly caused the decrepit door to flake off pieces of rust as it scraped open to produce a sharp sound against the stone. In the stone bricks, an indent existed as the door's outer arc, proving others indeed had been here. Finding themselves in a room with an exquisite flowing fountain, they both turned to the right, breaking through a rotten wooden door and they began wondering about how such ruins were built. There were many rooms, staircases, and for some reason, jail cells in this stronghold. Jade and Tivona continued to search their surroundings for bookshelves or to get a glance at the End portal.

* * *

The two thoroughly investigated the upper and middle floors; after a while they first discovered the End portal right next to a room with multiple bookshelves. Jade and Tivona entered the portal room first. Silverfish crawled all over the floor, nesting themselves in tiny crevices in the stone bricks. The portal blocks appeared to be floating in mid-air above a pit of lava.

"Jade," Tivona breathed, "There're seven Eyes of Ender in the portal. You think some group is planning on going to the End?"

Positively there were seven out of the twelve necessary Ender Eyes arranged in the portal frames, but that wasn't what Jade was concerned with. The portal blocks were composed of the stone from the End. Trying not to step on Silverfish, Jade felt the need to inspect the pale yellow stone more. Like every other thing she's seen so far, this stone looked familiar. She felt the solid, textured rock on her fingertips as the nearby lava's heat radiated from the pit underneath.

"Jade?" Tivona questioned as Tivona observed a relatively new chest structured from obsidian sitting in the back corner close to the lava. Nether portal particles emitted from the strange chest. Opening its heavy lid, Tivona viewed three Eyes of Ender, a few blaze powders, a stash of potions, a massive supply of food, quivers stuffed with arrows, and other enchanted diamond weapons and armor. "Jade, some group is going back to the End. They only need two more Ender pearls."

Snapping back to reality, and pulling herself away from the portal, Jade's other task popped into her head. "I'll be going to the library. You can come to help."

Tivona secured the lid on the obsidian chest shut. The End has nothing of value, so why would someone want to go back there? Shaking her head, Tivona followed Jade to the one of the stronghold's libraries.

Jade was met with many cobwebs and thousands of tomes lined in the shelves, all written in languages other than English. The most frequent writing was composed of some form of strange characters made from simple drawings and curves. Jade thought that this idea to find a stronghold was now useless, since she never considered that the books would be in this unknown dialect. But Eva was able to read this stuff and base her potions and spells off of it. Surely there must be a way to understand it….

After Jade plucked a random leather bound book from the shelves and let it remain open for a while, the drawings majestically broke up to create lines that began to move and swim all over the page. They began to reassemble themselves and resemble characters that Jade was able to recognize. They sorted themselves to form proper English with accurate punctuations and paragraphs. The book she picked off the shelf was some religious book, and the first paragraph read:

"In a time before the humans and monsters, there existed two Gods, two brothers, Notch and Herobrine. Notch was a positive force of good and justice, while his brother, Herobrine, was evil and corrupted. No one knows exactly how the two brothers developed such a difference in personality or an obvious hostility towards each other. Notch created all things to do good, but Herobrine ruined Notch's utopian world by instilling monsters into the world such as undead and creepers."

Jade heard Eva speak the name of Notch before, and she said something about the evil brother. Before Jade got too interested in the book, she handed it to Tivona, who was too memorized that the enchanted book formed a comprehensible language, despite the book's age.

Jade noticed that some other books contained a rather peculiar tongue, and these books didn't form English at all. These letters remained darkly on a paper-like substance not bounded in leather. Opening up a book, Jade saw more familiarity, but didn't fathom what the words meant. She put the musty tome on the floor as she and Tivona cracked open the ancient volumes in their search for a book on potions.

* * *

About seven hours later, Tivona and Jade had intense eyestrain from gazing at the books and watching the words moving all over the place. Definitely they both found books on potions, but none about describing how to reverse a spell's effects. The potions only were the catalyst in the appalling changing of all those people affected by Eva's potions. The reaction started with the potions, but Eva's spells embedded within them is what caused all those afflicted to turn into mobs. Jade read that in several books that she came across. Both Tivona and Jade separated the books that they already examined from the ones to still be leafed through. Eventually, Tivona passed out from boredom and the lack of sleep from the night she had before. Jade let her sleep; Tivona really needed it.

Jade fought for the book for spell reversal for several more hours despite her lack of sleep as well. Occasionally she would go to the portal room and snack on some of the many foodstuffs in the chest and to take a break. According to a clock found in the chest, nighttime was almost here. None of the books were categorized, and most of the books had no titles. The tedious work had to be done, all for Alister, Tivona, Bryan, Semitra residents, and for herself as well.

With her eyes feeling crossed, Jade shifted through a few more books. She would plan to sleep in about thirty minutes. No, an hour. Two hours? Jade made up her mind. She'd find this book tonight. She practically can feel the book laughing and mocking her, wanting her to give up. She decided she wouldn't.

* * *

Tivona wake up sore many hours later with a sneeze due to the dusty library. Tivona was sprawled all out on the uncomfortable floor, Jade shaking her gently. Jade appeared to have been up the whole entire time, since her fatigued voice drowned out her excitement.

"Tivona? Tivona! I found it! I found a book that describes how to get rid of curses and spells! I read the whole thing, and everything we need is in it! I had to search the other library, but I've found it!"

Jade presented the rather extensive volume to her and Tivona smiled, feeling dirty and dusty, still partially asleep. "How long have I've been sleeping for?" Tivona rubbed her eyes, gazing around the room, seeing books haphazardly misplaced to create a room as if it had undergone a war.

"Twelve hours. It's about eight in the morning right now." Jade grabbed Tivona's hand and pulled her up from the disgusting floor. Tivona patted and swiped her hands over her long robe. As Tivona observed herself, she noticed that she was producing blue Nether-like particles, reminding her that her disease was advancing. "No, no, I'm not going to be an Enderman…"

"Tiv, it's all right. The cure is right here!" Jade brought the yellowed book up to Tivona's face. "Do you want some food before we leave? The Ender chest has plenty." Tivona was surprised that Jade wasn't dead from being up so long. Perhaps mobs didn't need that much sleep.

Tivona nodded to Jade, and both of them rushed out of the sooty ancient library towards the portal. Tivona's ears captured sounds of squeaking metal from above her, but she insisted that was only from the stronghold's infrastructure breaking down. Tivona predicted that this place wouldn't last another two hundred years, since the decay was already widespread.

Jade stopped abruptly as she peered into the vacant Ender chest. "Nothing's in here. There was stuff in here last night when I ate!" Jade kept shaking her head rapidly in disbelief.

Tivona peeked over Jade's shoulder to view that the chest contained absolutely nothing. Was someone else here, or did the owner of the second connected Ender chest realize that they were missing their precious food?

Soon enough, Jade and Tivona both heard a door being broken down by a sharp instrument, perhaps a pickaxe, in close proximity to their location. Then they heard a bunch of chatter from a group of men. Their voices rose with concern and anger. This Ender chest must belong to them.

"Oh great! I didn't know I'd piss these people off so much that they'd come here!" Jade motioned for Tivona to get behind her. Jade resisted pulling out her sword, since she didn't want to cause any additional trouble.

The two remained motionless as they heard the sounds of iron against stone. The men must have been quite disturbed to have gone to find the perpetrators stealing their food. Jade and Tivona tried to remain quiet, both of them listening intently. How many men are coming? Are they capable of being reasoned with or will they kill both Jade and Tivona for stealing? Jade's hand was close to the hilt of her sword if the men wanted a fight.

After what seemed to be an eternity, a gleaming diamond sword similar to Zeke's poked out of the entrance to the portal room. Afterwards, a well-muscled man leaped out to discover Tivona and Jade huddled in a corner by the Ender chest. "Guys, we got Semitrans. They traveled _very_ far!"

Two other burly men revealed themselves, both wearing nothing more than usual clothing. They wielded swords, but Tivona and Jade gasped when the fourth man entered the room, his cyan shirt and blue jeans appearing very accustomed. Possessing tanned skin, brown hair, and purplish-blue eyes, any Minecraftian recognized him as Steve. He causally viewed the two women, declaring them no threat. His men backed out of the room, jabbering about the two others.

"Ladies," Steve began, "Why would two Semitrans turning into mobs be this far from Semitra, especially in a stronghold? My men and I are on an important mission to return to the End and slay the King of Endermen, orders from King Drake. We were in a forest near the swamp, gathering out materials, and then we realized some meat and vegetables were missing in the chest back home near here. We thought we were dealing with more nasty crooks." Steve came closer to the portal as he pulled out his diamond sword to skewer a Silverfish crawling towards his feet. He then saw that Jade was gripping something in her hands tightly. "What do you have there?" Steve eyed Jade expectantly, waiting for her to present the item.

"A book, it's the cure for the Semitrans. We want to save those ones that still have a chance. Was… was Eva found yet?" Jade shakily stumbled out the words. She was talking the most famous Minecraftian ever, the guy who resembled each zombie that covered the Overworld at night.

"She's been found, yes. She came through a family's Nether portal late last night. I get the news very fast." Steve gestured for both Jade and Tivona to move out from the corner. "You need to be taken to Crystalwyn. Eva is needed for this cure, right?"

Tivona and Jade stared at each other. Steve was intelligent and reasonable; most people weren't these days. "Yes," Jade muttered at yet another Silverfish that Steve cut with his sword. Before another grey little bug would interrupt the conversation, Jade communicated with other Silverfish emerging from the cracks. "Leave us alone."

Everyone witnessed as the Silverfish disappeared into the stone bricks once again. Steve nodded curtly, approving Jade's action. "You'll probably both be confined once you get there. The city doesn't want the mob infection to spread, although I know that spells can't spread that way." Steve then leaned in, whispering to both Tivona and Jade, making sure he wouldn't cause uproar amongst his men, since they enjoyed slaughtering criminals. "The city now knows Eva did this. They plan start her trial, so we better get there quickly before the judge sentences her to the gallows."

Jade saw from out of the corner of her eye a mischievous smile spreading ear-to-ear across Tivona's face. Tivona would receive a cure and watch Eva die, what a beautiful combo. Jade pushed the thoughts of an executioner putting a rope around Eva's neck out of her mind. Although Eva did screw with Jade, Jade would be bothered immensely if Eva was executed.

More stressful images then flashed in Jade's brain. Jade shuttered at Steve as he and Tivona started walking out of the room. Steve was the ultimate slayer of all mobs, and he didn't hold any remorse towards any monster. A slip of the tongue from any of Jade's comrades may result in Steve slicing Jade's head off in a split second. Jade damn well hoped that Tivona would keep her mouth shut about Jade's mob problem. In fact, it was Jade who found the cure, but Tivona may render Jade useless after Tivona received her treatment. If the Semitrans, Tivona's family, and Zeke turned against Jade afterwards, Jade simply wouldn't give a shit about humans and Testificates after all the things Jade had done for the infected people.

As Steve escorted them out of the room, his men led them the way out of the Stronghold as well. "Can we get to Crystalwyn without walking?" Tivona asked to no one in particular, since Tivona and Jade were exhausted enough. Jade lingered behind Steve and Tivona, her new worries ruining her thrill of holding the cure in her very hands.

"Don't worry," Steve replied to the two, "You both get to go by mine cart."


	13. Chapter 13- Leaving the Past (part 1)

Jade woke up groggily to discover she was placed in a warm bed under a faded forest green blanket. She had no recollections of how she got into the thin, uncomfortable bed, for Jade felt the metal bars supporting the mattress almost directly below her. The last thing she remembered was stepping into a cold mine cart which was trailing Tivona's and Steve's mine carts. Rising up from what was the bottom section of a bunk bed, Jade smelt a synthetic scent lingering in the… the cell. Jade observed the stone brick masonry and a tiny barred widow behind her before she turned to gaze at a solid and locked iron door. She got into a prison of all places?

Jade was confined in the chamber, and her bunkmate was wide awake mixing ingredients in glass vials by a brewing station in the corner by the locked exit. An Ender chest was positioned by a workbench, and the Ender chest sat there loaded with various materials. A normal chest sat nearby stuffed full with potions. Time seemed to slow down when Jade realized that the other inmate in the cell was Eva. Eva held a recently completed potion labeled "Erin Beecher." Eva was working on the potions for the cure while she was serving prison time. But… why is Jade in jail with Eva?

"Why am I with you?" Jade asked Eva abruptly, showing no patience. Jade had no need to be with Eva. Jade recalled Eva's attempted killing of Jade, then she remembered when Zeke had to heal her as she oozed blood all over the floors of Eva's basement. "I'm thrown in here with you like I rightfully deserve to be here?"

Eva delicately placed the green potion in her hand down on the wooden workbench before Eva turned and stared distantly at Jade. Jade expressed sheer astonishment as she witnessed Eva's face from her bed. Eva's face was completely burned on the left side. Jade couldn't even discern if Eva had her left eye; her blistered and ruined skin concealed most facial features. Jade viewed her other nasty scalds along Eva's arms as Jade realized that Eva's previous clothes were replaced with a plain white smock. "Ghasts, Blazes, Fireballs…" Eva's voice was much less energetic than it had been a few days before. Eva's scorching wounds had caused her voice to become very hoarse and rough; Jade almost couldn't recognize it as Eva's. "Hell does this to you; don't _ever_ go there without protective armor." Eva watched as Jade stared at the boring grey floor, remaining silent. Eva seemed to have already received her punishment by enduring a stressful, exhausting voyage in the Nether. Eva never would heal from the scarring wound; the damage done was too extensive to be reversed by any amount of food. Once Jade saw that horrid injury, any remaining anger that Jade still held against Eva dwindled drastically.

Eva moved over to the window of the cell, noting that night would approach in about two hours. Outside the window, the large, crowded city of Crystalwyn sat enclosed within a massive structured wall in the distance surrounded by dense forest. The prison was a considerable distance from the city for obvious reasons. Sharp, jagged barbed wire was on top of the outlaying wall of the prison. Guards patrolled the area, keeping all those of criminal status within.

Eva dully proceeded to speak. "You're here because of some Ender-girl. She requested that you reside with me because she convinced the authorities that you too know a thing or two about how to get the cures faster. I think she doesn't like you too much. But I can make the last nine potions tonight. The book on the cures is easy to follow."

Jade shifted out of the bunk bed and relocated over towards the potion-making station, taking interest in it. "Are the potions tested before they get distributed? I know the city has no trust in you."

"They tested a few of mine on the insane citizens going to became zombies and other undead. They became human again, but they took about two hours for effect. The undead strain is the easiest to fix."

Jade recognized a water vial with her name marked on it amongst the remaining vials yet to be filled with body-altering effects. She pulled it out, considering exactly why Eva would want to heal a mob. Why did Eva want to heal anyone for that matter? Every name labeled on the potions was merely another anonymous name to Eva. Steve said that Eva was a very likely candidate to be standing before a rope on the gibbet. What made her feel empathic in her despair?

Jade shook the bottle, attracting Eva's attention. Eva twisted around from the window, her listless demeanor becoming one of puzzlement. Jade shook her head as she stared at the bottle. "Why do you do this? What do you gain?"

Jade waited a moment for the somber Eva to utter a sound. After an adjustment of her worn-out glasses, Eva poured all her words out. "I don't care if you hate me, or if anyone else does at this point. I admit it, although this entire incident was an accident, I screwed with hundreds of people, including you. Half of those people are dead too"- Eva released a haggard breath before she continued- "and I know I'm a dead witch. But I feel the guilt. I can't let those people on the brink of insanity suffer much more. I caused so much death, and thousands of other people can't stand to hear my name. I never rip people off Jade, no matter if you're a human, Testificate, and most recently, a mob… I do what has to be done. Jade, I don't care what you are, although you're some monster, you were the closest thing to a friend that I had in a while. But I suspect you are…" Eva trailed off.

"Don't mention any more. I'll deal with that after I get the potion. I though you would hate me until the end of time ever since you kicked me out."

"I'm sorry. I misunderstood you when that stuff happened. Herobrine stuff and such…" Eva then changed the subject. "It's sort of good that you're up here with me. If you were with the Semitrans you wouldn't receive a cure because you still look human. I don't think you are willing to wait about three or so years until you change over. Once I'm dealt with, you'll be off on your merry way to get away from human civilization and start fresh. I know you'll get your memories back."

Jade continued to feel even more confounded about the mob business. Eva is still hiding something, acting fairly similar to Zeke's excuse for not killing Jade. "Eva, what is the core reason why you won't make me suffer or be killed by people? You shouldn't care about any mob."

"Jade, you're only pretending right now, right? When did someone tell you that being something you're not was good? You've been trying to mimic a human for days, yet you never were one. You never can be one, ever. Jade, you found the cure for yourself and an entire town. What mob cares about humans? If a mob would feel compassion for Minecraftians, that's a huge step for your kind."

Jade nodded, but she still met Eva with opposition. "So this 'connection' with the mobs enables you to find more ways to target our weaknesses…."

Eva brought one of her hands up to cut Jade off. "Jade, stop overthinking, and stop referring yourself as being the spokesperson for every mob out there. You are only one of the many types, and well, each mob is different."

"Well everyone throws mobs into the same bag. It doesn't matter what one you pick, they look all the same." Jade strode over to the door and looked out of the cell, noticing the uneasy stillness in the empty hallway. Not many criminals were dealt through the courts. Most often they were killed on the spot when they messed with others on this crazed world. "Humans aren't warm and fuzzy all the time either. Everything just has issues."

"All realms are unforgiving. Look at me and it's obvious."

Jade returned to the bench top to read the remaining portion of a list composed in King Drake's manuscript for those to be cured. The last eight names of the infected and their current status was described briefly. Eva had crossed off the previous names for each potion she had composed already. Only about fifty some Semitrans were taken to Crystalwyn to receive their cures. Most of them have died already, since well over half became undead quickly. Jade scanned the paper to find the names of Tivona, Bryan, and Alister. Alister was the fourth name crossed off on towards the top of the list. Nearby his name was labeled "successful." Jade grinned; Alister had received his cure already. Alister would actually live to see past his short fifteen years, unlike what his monotone statements suggested. Jade wondered if Zeke was doing fine, wherever he was.

"Want to finish the last nine left?" Jade murmured across the cell to Eva. The only name added to the list was simply "Jade" by Eva at the very bottom. No description followed; there was no need. Eva knew exactly what to do for the person she knew the best on the list.

"Sure." Eva rose feebly from the worn bed to stand beside Jade. "We got these eight, then well, I'll be adding a little extra side-effect to your potion, for the good of you. I've known you ever since that golem thing. Sorry about all that stuff too." Eva forced a smile to spread on her decrepit face as she focused again on finishing her final task.

Eva and Jade took two hours to compose the final nine potions, and many of the remedies were very similar in composition. Eva used peculiar language for spells and wacky ingredients for the potions as Jade helped Eva. Pretty soon, all the potions were finished and placed in the Ender-chest, waiting for King Drake to take notice of them in his connected Ender chest in Crystalwyn.

As Eva meticulously worked on Jade's potion, night had drenched the land outside; Jade viewed all the mobs roaming in the forest between the prison and Crystalwyn. They appeared all to move simultaneously, each serving not much of a purpose other than being a nuisance to Minecraftians. Jade wouldn't let herself be categorized with them, for she wanted to stand out. No way would she live that bleak mob life for the remainder of her days.

"Jade, it's finally finished…" Eva sighed heavily. Her potion making days were finally over. Jade moved through the cramped cell towards Eva, and she presented a bright gleaming sky blue potion to Jade. The potion attracted Jade's attention instantly, for the potion was such an attractive color. "It's yours."

Jade cautiously took the potion from Eva's hands; this potion was Jade's gateway to her hidden real self and it shall not be ruined or broken. Jade thought of what her original self may have been very little over the past few days. Jade was simply too busy worrying about everyone else.

"When they release you," Eva began, making eye contact with Jade, "get as far away from humans as you can before you drink that. The consequences will be appalling after, but in the end you'll get what you want. Days may pass before you regain your strength, and also collect a large amount of food before you drink, or you'll be starving when you wake. After that… everything's up to you." Eva tried to give Jade a weak smile. "I'll miss you friend, I really will."

Jade' stomach became queasy, and her eyes fell like they would create a river. Eva really did care… but unfortunately bad luck had come to her. "Thanks. I… never thought you would ever say that." Jade never expected Eva to regard a mob as a friend. The idea of any hostile entity having a healthy relationship with a Minecrafian felt too alien.

After a moment of hesitation, for the first and last time, Eva and Jade exchanged a hug. Both felt like breaking down; they both had very dismal concerns trapped in the back off their minds. King Drake will notice all the fifty-three completed potions soon, and then Eva's fate will be determined.

****I was a little sad after I read though this chapter. :( At chapter 15, this story will completely flip-flop. I'm thinking about making this a two part story, ending the first part at the next chapter. Or should I keep it just like this? I thank everyone for reading into my story this far. Not bad for my first time. **


	14. Chapter 14-Leaving the Past (part 2)

Eva and Jade continued to caress each other for a long minute. They will depart after the guards are sent to release them from the cell, and after that, only Notch shall know what will happen.

"Eva," Jade said rapidly, gazing out through the cell's minute window. A group of about three of the King's accomplices was at the door of the prison, awaiting entry. Their serious demeanor suggested that they needed Eva as soon as possible. "They're coming for us."

Eva reluctantly freed Jade from her tenacious grip. Eva wiped her decrepit, haggard face before looking at the tall, glamorous young woman in front of her. "It ends now for me, and nothing else can be done." Eva's voice reached a high pitch. "I hope they make this…quick."

"Eva!" Jade felt the reality finally soaking into the fabric of her being. "You can't go now! This can't happen, I can't lose you now! There's so much that you still need to see!"

"Keep your voice down!" Eva stressed jarringly. "I don't want those men to think you of being my friend. They'd have your neck break too!"

Eva gave a final sigh before whispering. "Jade, you are strong enough. I know you can carry on without me; you must! Nothing can be done to save me. You're going to have to learn how to live on your own; you keep forgetting you're a mob!"

Jade steeled herself in preparation of the guards barging into the cell. The cell was on the second floor; Jade felt the blood roaring in her ears as she heard the echo of many shoes against the stone staircase. Exasperated chatter flowed from the mouths of the several men into the hall. Jade felt her heart... then her thoughts broke up. Jade wasn't human, so what the hell was palpitating so acutely inside her chest? Did she even have a heart all this time?

The two watched as an armored prison guard smoothly inserted a large key into the door, unlocking it in seconds. Afterwards, the King's accomplices seized Eva, all of whom rushed in after Eva against the bunk bed, all wearing purple robes laced with holy symbols, protecting themselves from any of Eva's magic. Eva cursed and rejected their brutal way of plucking her from the cell as the three forced her against the wall, cuffing her hands behind her back. The courtiers were armed with iron enchanted swords of flame, and they were not hesitant to inflict damage upon Eva if she retaliated against the men. Jade stood against the back corner of the cell and witnessed the entire act. Eva gave one last sorrowful glance to Jade as Eva was hulled out of the room, practically dragging in the arms of the men.

Jade forced herself to react as if a criminal was removed from her hair as a prison guard motioned with his head for Jade to exit the cell. Jade wished she never had to try this hard to pretend. Jade would flood the cell if the guard was absent, but weeping for a person which a whole city dubbed a witch would earn Jade a noose right next to Eva. The action was suicide, and Jade took one last glance out of the cell window to then face the prison guard.

The guard, a well- muscled man of about forty years of age, took concern to Jade's attitude. "Is something not right?" The guard concentrated solely on the lady exiting the cell, noticing her sublime attractiveness.

"That was so wild. They carried her from the cell."

"Well she's getting what she needs, a lesson taught with death."

Jade pushed the thoughts of the execution to an isolated corner in her mind. No tears shall fall, at least not now, in spite of the difficultly for Jade to resist the waterworks. The prison guard escorted Jade down to the main floor. There some prison inmates were pinned up to the doors of their cells, following the preceding event of Eva being taken out recklessly. They took notice of Jade, for she was probably one of the few dazzling females that ever stepped foot into that prison. Whistling at the young lady and calling out sexual innuendos, Jade was in no mood to hear their yelps and hideous comments. All she wanted was to get far away from Crystalwyn, to forget this event, and to start over… again. Perhaps she would drink the potion and luckily lose her memories again… but only for a while. Jade now had an increasing array of recollections coming to her each day. Only if they made sense…

* * *

Eva's twenty-seven years flew before her eyes as she was positioned on a wooden gibbet along besides the King's men preparing to place the noose around her neck. Her hands were chained behind her back, and there was no room for Eva to move them. The noose was raised far above the ground, enough so that the trapdoor would open below and Eva's neck would snap in one fluent motion. At least her death would occur without struggling and suffering. The kingdom abolished burning witches or making a person choke on the rope as torture for an execution well over a hundred years ago. But the multitudes of Semitrans as well as Crystalwynians were exuberant and animated to see this witch be hung. Eva tried not to stare into the crowd as she was lead up to the noose by a uniformed man, the sheriff, who was responsible for her execution. The amount of armed men in the area erased any thoughts of escape for Eva. Walking towards the rope and standing over the crowd, the marshal's face was fixed with an uncomfortably large smile, since he liked to kill off all he saw as criminals. Beyond the large common area where the entire throng of people stood and awaited her death, King Drake's castle loomed in front of Eva, a colossal structure of fine stone masonry artistically crafted through years of meticulous work. Drake and his wife, Queen Catalina, watched the execution take place from their majestically lit balcony above the commons. With the smooth wave of Drake's bejeweled hand, the sheriff positioned the rope around Eva's burnt neck, and all he had to do was activate a lever to end it all.

The crowd was feral and vicious, and each person was past the point of containment. Shouts of "Pull it!" and "Do it!" chorused to an uproar in the cool starry night under a crescent moon. No one in the housing district of the city was going to get a wink of sleep tonight. The public execution was most likely done now to appease the reckless mob, all of whom were beyond angry with Eva.

Eva's thoughts buzzed uncontrollably through her mind as her final seconds ticked on by in slow motion. A tear streamed from her remaining eye as she felt herself go completely numb. Eva's breathing quickened, but she could not force a yelp or even a whisper to her parched lips. Would a miracle happen and she be saved? Would anyone care about her after? Was her father witnessing this? Would her mother hear of this news? Was her brother all right on his adventures? Was Eva really acceptant of dying? Was Jade all right? Was Eva going to be…..?

And with that final incomplete thought, the trapdoor opened, Eva fell through, and her world disappeared.

**;( That was the hardest chapter I've ever typed yet. It was so painful, and editing this chapter was brutal. It'll be a while before something like this happens again.**


	15. Chapter 15- To End a Chapter

Jade stumbled over weeds and twisted brush underfoot as she escaped the city of Crystalwyn in all due haste. She wanted to disregard what she expected any moment soon. The well-lit city still remained within Jade's eyesight as she turned to the south to view the city's yellow glow polluting the black sky. Jade was on the boarder of a plains becoming a dense forest. In her world of impenetrable melancholy, Jade almost forgot the mobs roamed at this time, and which was the whole reason for why she was getting away in the first place.

In a boisterous, distant wave of upheaval, the screams and roars of thousands of people meet Jade's ears at a sickening speed. Upon hearing the commotion from the city behind her, Jade collapsed to the tall, itchy grass, weeping and heaving severely. Jade knew what just happened, despite her not seeing the event unfold. Eva… they'd done it.

"Eva… Eva…!" Jade stared up toward the sky, her stomach flopping and contorting to serious degrees. She positioned her arm across her forehead she was surrounded by countless mob sounds. Tears felt across her face to start wetting her wild, unwashed hair. Jade remained there bawling for three minutes, and then a creeper stood over Jade, staring at her distraught self on the grass. It nudged her gently in her leg; trying to snap her back to reality, but Jade wasn't affected. Jade knew the people in that crowd. Tivona. Alister. Bryan. She envisioned all their elated faces as Eva hanged from a rope. Was Zeke there too, doing the same thing? Jade still owed Zeke for saving her from the golem, but Jade believed she wouldn't contact her rescuer anytime soon.

Jade wiped her face with her hand exhaustingly as she drowned in misery. She felt terrible, yet she began to recover from hearing the roaring crowds cheer from Eva's death. Was the sorrow worth it? Once the potion in Jade's inventory was drunk, she will forget all her memories again, right? As bad as it sounded to Jade, she wept enough for Eva. She began her despair ever since Steve mentioned it so upliftingly yesterday that Eva was due to die. Once again, Jade was reminded of her mob side, and that unknown half of her loathed the Minecraftians. If Jade was a true human, she would have cried and sobbed for another hour. Perhaps the reality of Eva screwing with everybody, including her, was bubbling up again.

Jade responded to the green creature bumping her leg. "I'm all right, I'm all right…"

* * *

After forty more minutes of calming down, Jade still lay on the ground, attempting to decide what exactly to do. Should drink the potion in her bag right now, or should she get food and find a safe spot? Should she even drink the potion? All the potions were different; no one now can tell her if the radiant blue potion was safe for consumption.

Jade sat up and sighed, interacting with the creeper that had yet to leave her side. "What should I do creep? Should I…" Jade reached into her inventory to present the shining sky blue potion, glowing with mystical energy. The creeper next to Jade was taken back, it black eyes captivated, not at all budging from the concoction. Even this thing knew its power.

Jade felt the most unusual sensation in talking to a creeper, but once that potion was out of Jade's bag for thirty seconds, other mobs glanced at the potion, mimicking the creeper's expression. Jade's chest lurched when an Enderman teleported with an otherworldly noise, its figure towering over her, its wondrous eyes beaming at that bottle of liquid. The viscosity of the contents flowed like that of yogurt as Jade shook it in her hand. Each mob surrounding Jade knew what that potion was for. Jade concluded to Tivona a few days ago that she must be a mob up on the totem pole. For goodness sakes, she told an Enderman not to attack a human, and he listened. Silverfish crawled back to their crevices by her commands. These mobs wanted her back to her old self. The Enderman and creeper along with a few other non-undead spectators encircled Jade. They began their mob chatter, all of which Jade still couldn't comprehend.

Feeling a sense of claustrophobia, Jade bolted up to get away from the crowd. Each one gave Jade the impression that she should drink that potion right now, but Jade wasn't ready. She continued towards the forest to try and escape, but then Jade found herself breaking torn apart, her body degrading into billions of particles. Somehow, unfathomably, Jade felt her pangs of fear turn to a relaxed state-yet she had no physical body. She endured what felt to be shifting through wet dirt, and then it turned to become a solid surface. She was passing through the ground, and after that one brief moment, she reassembled instantly, standing with arms wrapped around her in an utterly dark cave. She was teleported by an Enderman into the underground. That had to be the strangest experience that Jade ever endeavored. Jade pondered how bizarre it was that the lone pearl in an Enderman can do all that for himself and Jade.

Jade checked her person to see if she was still in possession of the potion. In her clammy right hand, she discovered herself gradually regaining feeling in her fingertips, and she felt the smooth glass vial. In the complete blackness, the potion exhibited a weak cyan glow against the walls of the cavern. By how Jade judged the walls, she was in a circular room. Many items were scattered about the floor, suggesting a human had once camped there.

The Enderman released Jade softly. Jade whirled around to gain insight of the towering figure. With her eyes focused on his, Jade gradually began to distinguish his body from the rest of the room. She sighed at the potion before speaking. "You want me to drink this… I'm not so sure."

The Enderman nodded, but he didn't utter a sound reflecting his answer for the second part of Jade's statement.

"If I do drink… do you have food?"

He nodded again, noticing a creeper entering the circular area. Upon his noticing of the creeper, the Enderman screeched, his mouth agape, sending the creeper scurrying away on its short feet.

Jade twitched as she recovered from the threatening sound. The Enderman walked over towards the entrance to the room, placing dirt in the way to block the exit. Jade finally understood that the items in the room must belong to the Enderman, whatever they were. Coolly Jade questioned him as he returned his gaze to Jade. "Do you live here?"

The Enderman nodded as he usually did, and he then lowered his gaze to the mess on the floor, as if attempting to decide to clean it up.

Jade felt that this Enderman cared for Jade a tad too much. He wanted to assure himself than Jade would drink this potion so much that he teleported her in the cave and conversed with her alone. He also felt like a bad host, inviting Jade into his pathetic excuse for a home. Jade decided to go all in. He would answer Jade truthfully.

"Am I one of you?"

The Enderman glanced up to Jade abruptly, totally ignoring his mess. He strode over to Jade until he was directly in front of her. He didn't nod nor shake his head. For a moment, Jade wondered if the Enderman himself even knew. But the response he gave Jade was the indistinct turning of his large hand and slight narrowing of his deep violet eyes. He couldn't convey a direct yes or no answer, but it appeared that he tried to display an awkward mix in-between.

Thousands of possibilities flowed through Jade's mind. Was she a mob hybrid of some sort, like the Semitran half-mob humans? There was no other explanation for why the Enderman didn't present a clear cut answer. But Jade never recalled seeing a hybrid mob in her life. Was she a sole exception? Was that the reason for the mobs' wholehearted respect for her? Jade originally thought that all half-breeds were looked down upon….

"So I'm kind of related to you then?"

The Enderman bent down to Jade's level, his particles touching and dissipating lightly on her face. Not answering Jade's question, he took Jade's hand and pushed the blue potion up from Jade's waist towards her mouth. He uncapped it, waiting for when Jade would consume it. The potion emitted a pleasant, neutral scent as its vapors drifted up towards her nose. It smelt like the scent after rainfall, a scent Jade was relaxed by.

"Do you think it's dangerous?"

The Enderman shook his head, brushing his warm hand softly against Jade's arm in reassurance. This Enderman appeared to have some love interest here. He treated Jade as if she was delicate as a rose, and Jade didn't mind it.

Jade glanced to the bottle again, deciding that the potion would be her escape from reality and from Eva's terrible death. All her memories would once again be erased, and she would reenter the world as a mob with no tangible goals or worries in mind. Before Jade could consider any negative effects, she downed the milky, sweet substance in successive gulps. Once Jade handed off the emptied vial to the Enderman, she felt empowered with great energy for a few minutes. She thought her potion would convert her back without struggle, but that wouldn't occur with this category of potion.

Jade's head gradually became bombarded with acute aching, and she felt as if she would soon pass out cold. She began to cough a dry, painful heaving cough, and then Jade fell to her knees. The Enderman rushed over, holding her as she then began to stiffen up from sharp pains forming in her torso and arms. Clinging to the Enderman, her vision became heavily obstructed with what appeared to be flashing white stars seeming to materialize from the walls in the dark cavern. She sensed her insides undergo a burning sensation, as if the potion had ignited an internal fire to begin spontaneous combustion. Jade thought of asking the Enderman for help, but she had no ambition to speak. He simply could do nothing for her anyway. There was no way around the violent and agonizing pain. Jade slipped into unconsciousness from the numerous complications.

The Enderman gently reclined her onto the stone ground, stroking her head as he felt her hot forehead. He concluded that he should make another bed for his important guest. He had nothing else to possibly do for her other than wait for his mistress to transform back. Absolutely nothing shall inflict harm on her after his extensive and agonizing wait for her return.

_END OF PART ONE._

**Now the fun shall begin. **


	16. Chapter 16- Rise Again

**Dialogue in italics suggests a language other than English is being spoken. **

"_Zquerian_ (pronounced Z- care-e**-in**)_! Zquerian! Where can he be… he was at the dining hall an hour ago…."_

A smooth, young voice bounced through the hallways and corridors of a former underground mineshaft. No humans wondered into this abandoned shaft anymore, and none attempted to. A clan of mobs, all misplaced Endermen, dominated the area of where humans had once mined for their ores and other resources.

Lyilis sprinted through the halls searching for Zquerian's iconic circular room. Lyilis and Zquerian had concocted a plan to remove the half-dragon mistress from their clan's clutches. Zquerian found her as a human, and now that she has awakened, they didn't want the elder to instill the wrong thoughts in her mind. The elder was beyond old, and his ancient views conveyed the fact that he didn't have much respect for his younger kin, especially women.

Scanning the rather blank stone halls of the mineshaft, Lyilis came across the circular room littered with Zquerian's senseless belongings. Dirt, gravel, clothes, paper, food, and sand were scattered about the floor, signifying Zquerian's carelessness. Lyilis never commented about the habits of the man, for Zquerian was the most depressed soul to exist in the clan. All the other Endermen in the clan understood why Zquerian felt so down, and they rudely commented about it for so long their comments held no value to Zquerian.

Zquerian reclined on his elongated bed, staring at the ceiling, his dull purple eyes narrowing as he was about to lose consciousness. Abruptly the Lyilis spoke, ruining the sublime stillness.

"_Zquerian! Sorry, but the royalty's daughter has awoken, and I need you right now." _

Zquerian yanked two layers of pale grey blankets covering him off of his heavily injured body, the scars laced on him still apparent to the Lyilis even in the pitch black room. The wounds primarily existed in a concentrated amount on his upper chest, exactly where his pearl should be. A few other slashes were made to his legs and arms, but those wounds were miniscule compared to the scars embedded on his chest. Lyilis never addressed Zquerian on whom or what gave him such complications, for he knew that answer ever since he meet Zquerian a while ago.

Zquerian slid out of the bed and stretched as he listlessly yawned, staring at Lyilis's bold blue eyes.

Very urgently, Lyilis muttered his next sentence. "_Zquerian, we must get the mistress before the elder returns and the others try to start nonsense…"_

Zquerian nodded, and instantly the two teleported to the mistress's room.

The mistress's room was square, the carpeting a stained grey with altering shades of the grey fabric in the chamber. The room lined with peculiar equipment, all of which was used to care for her while she was in her a condition very similar to a coma. Neither Lyilis nor Zquerian knew how the equipment functioned, so they left the elder to care for her, and it was the only reason why the two didn't remove the mistress from the clan earlier. The Overworld lacked women, and all of the Endermen here were enticed by the lone female, seemingly defenseless in her bed….

Standing in the little room, five other Endermen surrounded the mistress's orange bed, and she was astounded from the other Endermen's filthy comments that they spoke to her. Once Lyilis and Zquerian emerged into the room, the other Endermen started to talk about them.

An aspiring young Enderman with romance on his mind scoffed at the older Zquerian. _"What chance would you have with her mute? I'd think she'd prefer someone that could talk…."_

Another one tried to stop Lyilis as he and Zquerian shoved though the wall of Endermen. _"What are you doing with her youngster? You're a little too young for her…." _

The two pushed through the throng of Endermen, all of their violet eyes gleaming with evident lust at their target, her clothing only consisting of a thin white nightgown, the fabric so thin one could almost see her dark body through it. She retorted back further into the covers a moment when Lyilis and Zquerian pushed through with haste towards their superior interest. The mistress wasn't safe here, not at all, yet her glowing teal eyes were filled with disgust rather than helpless terror. She brimmed with spontaneous anger.

She hosted herself up from the bed in one melodious moment, gazing upon her atrocious kin, aghast and appalled beyond relief. Her young feminine voice conveyed the upmost acidity, her eyes firing bolts at her spectators._ "Disgusting things you are!" _She released four black razor sharp talons from each her hands, each the length of about a meter, pointing them at the men. _"You think I'm that vulnerable? Try me, you damned puny Endermen!"_

Lyilis and Zquerian sprang into action before their mistress could sustain damage to the others or herself. Zquerian and Lyilis quickly extended their long opaque arms to her, gripping her arms. Teleporting the mistress to the surface, all three found themselves in the brilliant, hot sun, and Zquerian and Lyilis prepared to deal with the enraged half-dragon.

"_You want a fight? I'll give you one…." _The teal eyed woman had her claws fixed on the two Endermen, expecting them to launch an attack. Her particle effect was on overdrive, light green and blue flecks of energy showering both Zquerian and Lyilis.

Lyilis made his point slowly, trying to avoid any action that might infuriate his royalty. _"Madame, please, calm down. Neither of us wants to fight with you. We just wanted to get you away from that cult." _

She shook her head, taking a moment to assess the two Endermen before she finally sheathed her claws as she folded her long arms across her chest. _"Good. I could almost taste their disloyalty. You two seem different." _She ruffled through her long jet black hair, the locks streaked with strands of turquoise and light green. The temperature was rather hot in the open plains, and the three's dark skins were heat magnets in the sunlight.

Lyilis sighed, no longer anxious of their future leader retaliating. He had heard rumors about his King's daughter going through bouts of her aggressive Enderdragon side, and she put people she didn't like in their place. Little was known about her, since the King kept his youngest daughter well contained from the prying eyes of the commoner Endermen, but Lyilis could only speculate the reasons why the King did that._ "Do you feel all right? I forgot to mention this, but my name is Lyilis."_

She gazed across the plains, taking in the intense splash of green and speckles of vibrant red and yellow in the area. _"The colors are much more vivid… is that normal?"_

"_Yes it is, and in the light the color will hurt your eyes after a while. At night you will see a lot more." _Lyilis felt disrespectful for asking, but not many were told of the mistress's name, so he decided to see if she would give one._ "Excuse me, but what is your name?"_

She focused on the towering Zquerian behind Lyilis, looking at his eyes for a while before she uttered questionably, _"Jade."_

Lyilis noted that the name didn't really fit her well. 'Jade' was a name given to a gem, or a human's name. Not one for a notorious half-dragon Enderman. Perhaps she knew it, but it had to remain in secrecy.

The more Lyilis looked past her, he realized that 'Jade's' brilliant wings that she was known for having neither spread out nor dragged on the ground behind her. Are her wings… still there?

Lyilis shifted to the left a bit to get a better glimpse at Jade's back. Jade's eyes were fixed on him, her dark pupils shifting to remain on Lyilis as he tried to get a better look.

Jade was confused about what Lyilis was doing. She assumed that something was contained within the forested area behind her, so she turned around, uttering, _"What are you looking at?"_

Jade heard an exasperated gasp flow from the mouths of Lyilis and/or Zquerian. She turned back to the two, their faces awestruck with whatever they had just seen. She scrunched her face a bit as she addressed them. _"What's that for? Something wrong?" _

Lyilis's blank blue eyes lowered to the ground, recognizing what he had to tell would be upsetting for Jade. Lyilis never noticed it when Jade had been in her room or when she retaliated against the clan, but what Jade had been known for was practically gone. _"This may upset you, but… your wings, well, are nothing but a few strands of what they had been…"_

Jade mumbled in disbelief._ "Wings? Since when did I have those?" _Jade gingerly reached for her back, feeling where something protruded out. The rough, scaly extension abruptly ended to become the tattered remains of fibers that had once been attached to her. She retorted in anger. _"Did they do this too? If not, what?"_

Lyilis responded. _"I'm unsure about it…." _Jade tuned him out.

Jade ignored Lyilis as she observed the taller purple eyed Enderman standing behind him. He seemed like he was just there, like he was being totally disregarded. The cosmic scarring on him had made Jade quail. His cloudy violet eyes radiated despair and depression, despite the vividness Jade witnessed in the rest of the area. Lyilis stopped his explanation as soon as he realized Jade was fixed on Zquerian.

Jade titled her head at Zquerian and spoke rather softly, _"Why don't you let him talk?"_

Lyilis turned to Zquerian, biting his lip._ "Should I, Zquerian?"_

Zquerian shook his head in approval. Lyilis reverted his gaze back to Jade.

"_This my friend Zquerian, as I just said... and he cannot talk. Sorry to say this, but humans did that to him. His only vocal sound is screaming…"_

Jade began to draw conclusions too early. _"What did they do, did they cut out his tongue?"_

"_No, they cursed him, his pearl, and that's why his chest is like that…"_

Zquerian gazed due east for the entire discussion, glowering at something beyond Lyilis. Jade twisted to see an immense wall in the distance. Inside the wall were many houses and a large castle. "Crystalwyn…"

Jade ceased talking as she realized she was speaking English. No, it wasn't that. Something happened there, and Jade couldn't place what, but she didn't like it. She felt the same capacity to resent the place like Zquerian, however.

"_Why did they do that to Zquerian? Sorry to say this, but why didn't they kill him? We're…"  
_Jade sighed; resenting the words she was labeled, _"Monsters to them."_

"_Zquerian was one for improving relations among the humans and our kind. He was able to speak that language you said before… and he went to that city. He said a passage from the human's bible. Something about he wasn't affiliated with their evil god…" _

Jade snapped her fingers, the name coming back to her crystal clear. "Herobrine."

"_Their religion stated that all of us are united with him… and since Zquerian said he wasn't, well… you see what happened there. I guess… the humans found torture more satisfying than downright killing. What nasty beings they are…." _Lyilis patted his taller friend as an apology, their eyes fixed on the grass blowing on the ground.

"_Zquerian understands English, I assume?" _

Lyilis's head perked right up._ "Yes."_

Jade paused a moment to glance at the sky, observing it was early afternoon before focusing on Zquerian. _"Were you the Enderman I threatened to kill? You teleported me underground and…" _Jade's remaining thoughts went blank.

Zquerian nodded, recalling the events.

"_I'm sorry for that. I had to do something important, and I'm really sorry for that."_

Zquerian accepted the apology, but he didn't look that affected by it. Jade was persuaded into thinking that Zquerian was the epitome of sadness, and no amount of cheering up could budge him from his dreary mood. Only once his curse was lifted would his despair truly go away.

Jade changed the subject._ "What was with that group you were with? What was their problem?"_

"_They are a cult of despicable Endermen that moved in a few months after Zquerian found you. We lost your old caretaker to that group, and the elder took over. We both stayed with the clan because we didn't want to leave you there and succumb to their wrath. If we didn't watch you, they would have done god knows what." _

"_Well, I'm glad to be out. I knew from the moment I looked at them they were exiles."_

Lyilis nodded, and he started to walk due west, away from the massive city to the east. Lyilis beckoned for Zquerian and Jade to follow him, but the two remained stationary for a moment before following Lyilis.

Lyilis ceased his stroll to a halt. He turned around, bewildered. _"We need you to get home…"_

"_Wasn't that place down there your home?" _Jade pulled her nightgown up by its thin, delicate straps. She really yearned for less exposing clothing.

"_No, our real home is The End. It's the dimension where we come from. It's rather dark and comfortably cool, since we don't have that thing in the sky."_

Jade kept trying to stretch out her gown as she tried to pay attention to what Lyilis was saying. The gown exposed her long legs completely. Jade was also shaky trying to walk; she didn't feel like she was so tall before she went to sleep. _"How long I've been out?"_

Lyilis gritted his teeth, moving his head up to Zquerian. Zquerian made signs with his hands and facial expressions, using strange Enderman sign language._ "Seems right. About two years, at least from this planet's standards, but to us it's not long at all."_

Jade could believe it, although her period of sleeping seemed to take far less time. However, those two years were scrapped, where she lay on a bed, her mind a black slate. But there was no use in weeping about it. Jade remembered some recollections tangibly, but she felt more memories residing somewhere inside her mind, wanting to burst.

'_C'mon you two, we got a long walk. It'll take a few days."_ Lyilis paced towards the forest, confidently moving along. Jade and Zquerian followed, but Jade needed assistance in taking her steps. Zquerian guided her, holding her steady until she quickly mastered walking again. _"Thanks Zquerian."_

Zquerian gave a curt nod before Jade yelled to Lyilis further away, waiting. _"Why can't we just… teleport the entire way?"_

"_You couldn't even walk, what makes me think that you'll teleport? Plus, teleporting drains__** all **__the energy from you. What will happen if rain comes or we're attacked? The only time you teleport is if it is absolutely necessary or for your own defense. I thought you knew that."_

Jade's bank of retentions didn't hold any information on that. Although she was probably able to, Jade had no clue how to teleport, nor did she attempt to try right now.

"_This way, into the forest. It's nowhere near as bright there. Damn it's really hot too!" _

Jade and Zquerian obeyed Lyilis, and Jade assumed that she and Zquerian actually were older than him. Conversely, Zquerian couldn't give orders, and Jade was clearly ignorant. Jade felt that she did not take this route to the stronghold. After all, she was given no insight on why she needed to go to this place, The End, which was apparently her home.

**A.N.** **Yeah, I haven't updated for a month, but I quit writing for a while because every time I typed out this chapter I didn't like it at all, so I stopped writing until the writer's block went away.** **I'll be out of school soon, so I should be updating more regularly. Sorry I made everyone wait really long.** **Did anyone notice that the title sounded weird before? Titles are for the End was a temporary title… read it a few times…** **But I kinda adapted it to fit the story.**


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